
Class _l_T32i^ 

Book S JL_ 

Copyiight N" . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



HOUSE PAINTING 

GLAZING, PAPER HANGING, AND 
WHITEWASHING 

A BOOK FOR THE HOUSEHOLDER 



BY 

ALVAH HORTON SARIN, M.S. 

AUTHOR OF " TECHNOLOGY OF PAINT AND VARNISH " 

MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, THE SOCIETY 

OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY, THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR 

TESTING MATERIALS, THE SOCIETY OF ARTS 

(LONDON), ETC., LECTURER IN NEW YORK 

UNIVERSITY 



FIRST THOUSAND 
FIRST EDITION 



NEW YORK 
JOHN WILEY & SONS 

London; CHAPMAN & HALL, Limited 
1908 



^9 ^ 



UBHARY of CONGRESS 
twu GoDles Keceive« 

JUL 11 1908 

<^XAlt, X , I <^ o K 

GJ^Si; «t AXc, Wo. 

5 430 HY a. 



Copyright. igo8, 

BY 

ALVAH HORTON SABIN 

Entend at Stationers' Hall 



Stanbopc iPress 

F. H. CILSON COMPANY 
BOSTON. U.S.A. 



^'^ 



A 



4, 



4' 



PREFACE 



For every man, woman, and child in this 
country more than a gallon of paint is used 
every year; and the relative amount is increas- 
ing. Paint is a necessity; it is an economy; 
it is a means of sanitation; it helps us to keep 
clean; it keeps us warm in winter and dry in 
summer; it brings light into dark corners; 
it beautifies our homes; it increases our credit; 
it raises our assessments; the most ignorant 
enjoy its benefits; and the most highly de- 
veloped minds, whose culture is so pro- 
found that they have forgotten all they ever 
learned at college, retain its appreciation. 

A subject so various in its uses, so universal 
m its appreciation, deserves attention, — in- 
deed merits intelligent study. It is not pro- 



iv Preface 

posed in this little book to enter largely into the 
theory of paint manufacture, nor to describe 
its use for carriage-painting and the thousand 
and one purposes for which special paints 
and varnishes are made, but to tell simply and 
plainly the use of preservative coatings of one 
sort and another for the protection and orna- 
ment of common houses, as they are known, 
or should be, to every one of the author's 
fellow-countrymen. An experience of many 
years in the manufacture and use of paints 
and varnishes is the foundation of such 
knowledge as may be set forth, and while on 
many points even experts disagree, it will be 
the intention to set forth fairly sound and 
safe practice. 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Materials . i 

Pigments , 5 

Care of Paint Brushes „ 16 

Exterior Painting 19 

Painting Structural Metal 34 

Interior Painting ^6 

Varnishing . 40 

A Colored Finish without Paint ...... 59 

Floor-Finishing 6r 

Glazing 68 

Papering 77 

Whitewashing 96 

Kalsomining 102 

Cold-Water Paints 108 



HOUSE PAINTING 



Materials, 



Paint is composed of two parts: a liquid, 
which is mainly oil in most house-paints, 
and a powdered solid, which gives oil 
color and body to the mixture. ^^^^^^ 
The liquid part is especially termed the 
vehicle; the soHd, the pigment. The oil is 
Hnseed oil, made from flax-seed; raw oil is the 
natural oil, which will dry or become hard 
enough to handle, if exposed to the air in a 
thin film, in about a week; and boiled oil is the 
same, to which has been added a small pro- 
portion of " drier," and will dry in twelve 
to twenty-four hours. Paint drier, also 
known as japan, or paint japan, is a com- 
pound of lead, or manganese, or both, soluble 



.2 House Painting 

in oil; it takes up oxygen from the air, and 
passes it over to the oil; for it must be known 
that oil dries, not at all by evaporation, but 
by absorbing oxygen from the air and uniting 
chemically with it, so as to make a new ma- 
terial, which is not a liquid, but is a tough, 
Drying of leathery soHd, and weighs a fifth or 
Linseed Oil ^ quarter more than the oil from 
which it was made. This is technically called 
linoxyn. The drier is, therefore, a chemical 
agent, and acts toward oil somewhat as kind- 
ling-wood does to coal, only it doesn't entirely 
burn up, but keeps on acting for a long time. 
If too much of it is used the oxidation, or 
combustion, goes on too strongly, and the oil 
gets over-oxidized, or burned, and its tough- 
ness and elasticity are impaired; therefore 
we must be sparing in its use, for we find 
the slow-drying paints are the most durable. 
Paint drier is usually sold as a liquid, and 
to a gallon of oil in paint not more than five 



Materials 3 

or ten per cent of drier should be added; 
less for outside than for inside paints. The 
best driers do not contain rosin, but most 
cheap driers do. It is not often necessary to 
use drier with boiled oil, as the manufacturer 
has already put in as much drier as is desir- 
able. Drier should never be added to mixed 
paint, as the maker has exactly proportioned 
the ingredients to give the best results; there 
are cases where it is proper to add oil to a 
mixed paint, and sometimes turpentine, but 
not drier. 

Turpentine is sometimes an ingredient of 
paint. In this connection it always means 
the essential oil of turpentine, a spirits of 
colorless liquid, lighter than water, Turpentine 
highly inflammable, volatile. It mixes per- 
fectly with oil, and increases the fluidity of 
paint. If we mix a considerable amount of 
it with paint, it makes a thinner film and one 
which is not glossy when dry, but dull, — 



-4 House Painting 

what painters call "flat." Most paints stick 
better to a "flat" surface than to a glossy one, 
and so turpentine is often added to under- 
coats; also sometimes a "flat" surface is pre- 
ferred, as a matter of taste, as a finish; but 
it is always less durable than a glossy one. 
Turpentine substitutes are usually benzine, 
a petroleum product between light naphtha 
and kerosene; often mixed with rosin spirits, 
or with wood distillates to conceal the odor. 
Genuine turpentine is always preferred, but 
the substitutes are cheaper, and for some 
purposes are fairly good. 

Turpentine should not be put in with the 
pigment until after the oil; because with most 
pigments there is a sort of attraction between 
the oil and the pigment, and it is important 
not to prevent them from uniting as intimately 
as possible; and turpentine seems to do this. 
After the oil is all in and well mixed is the 
time to put in the turpentine. On the other 



Pigments c 

hand, if we are to add drier to paint, it is to 
act only on the oil, and it is well to mix it with 
the oil before the latter is put with the pig- 
ment. Moreover, the amount of drier is to 
be proportioned to the oil, not to the finished 
paint. To make paint thinner and more 
fluid, turpentine is much more efficient than 
an equal volume of oil; as it is volatile it does 
not act as a binder or cementing material, 
and therefore lessens the elasticity and 
durability of the paint. 

Pigments, 

The most important pigment is white 
lead. Every one has heard of Dutch pro- 
cess white lead; it was invented white 
before the Dutch took Holland, but ^^^^ 
that is no matter. It is the standard white 
lead; it is made from metalHc lead, corroding 
it by the aid of acetic acid, but it does not 
contain any acid; it is a basic carbonate of 



6 House Painting 

lead, a very white, impalpably fine powder; 
heavy, as all lead compounds are, and having 
a natural affinity for oil. It is sold as dry 
white lead, a powder, or as paste white lead, 
which usually contains ten per cent of Unseed 
oil, and is a thick, heavy paste, to which oil 
may be added by stirring it in with a stick or 
paddle. A gallon of white lead paint weighs 
21 or 22 pounds; if we add 5 gallons of oil to 
100 pounds of paste lead we have 6\ gallons 
of paint weighing 21.3 pounds per gallon; a 
gallon of oil weighs 'j.'] pounds, a gallon of 
turpentine 7.2 pounds, and a gallon of benzine 
a little over 6 pounds. 15 pounds paste lead 
and 6.3 pounds oil make a gallon of paint; 14 
pounds dry lead and 7^ pounds oil make a 
gallon. A gallon of anything measures 231 
cubic inches, and a gallon of water weighs 8|^ 
pounds. But linseed oil is sold by the barrel 
on the conventional or trade agreement that 
7^ pounds shall be sold as a gallon, or a 



Pigments >-j 

50-gallon cask will measure nearly 3 gallons 
short; this is to cover the cost of the barrel. 
Similarly, turpentine when bought by the 
barrel is usually bought on Charleston or 
Savannah measure and is two or three per 
cent short, having evaporated through the 
staves of the barrel. White lead of similar 
composition is also made by a more rapid 
process than the Dutch process, and is prob- 
ably not very different in its qualities. White 
lead of this composition turns black if exposed 
to sulphur, and white lead paint becomes 
yellowish after a time if not exposed to sun- 
light. In the sun it constantly bleaches out 
to a clear white. 

Reducing paste paint to the consistency of 
paint by the addition of more oil is by painters 
called "breaking" it; this is done by putting 
the paste in a suitable vessel and stirring it 
with a paddle (or in a mechanical mixer) 
with enough oil to make a thick fluid; and 



8 House Painting 

when it is uniformly mixed add more oil until 
the necessary amount has been put in. Paint 
composed largely of white lead improves by 
standing in a tightly covered package; it is 
appreciably better after a year than when it 
was first made. This is probably not true of 
other pigments, but there seems to be a slow 
action on the oil which is advantageous. 
White lead acts as a drier on oil, and it is 
possible to make a paint of white lead and raw 
oil without any drier which will dry fairly 
well in hot, dry weather out of doors. 

SubHmed white lead is a very different 
thing. It is made directly from ores contain- 
Sublimed ing lead and zinc by roasting them 

^^^^ in a furnace; the lead is converted 
into a basic lead sulphate, and the zinc into 
oxide, and these are carried off in a current of 
air, and after cooling are collected as a white 
powder containing about five per cent of zinc 
oxide. This sublimed lead is a white powder, 



Pigments 9 

very fine, and is not much discolored by sul- 
phurous gases. It is claimed by the makers 
to be superior to the other kind; but according 
to Professor Ladd, who has investigated this 
matter, many troubles have been encountered 
in its use. It is less expensive than standard 
white lead, and is used by some manufacturers 
of mixed paints. Probably it is a valuable 
pigment, if not quite so good as the other. 
Zinc-lead is a similar compound containing a 
very much larger proportion of oxide of zinc. 
Next to white lead in importance is white 
zinc, or zinc oxide, made by burning zinc ore 
in a current of hot air, though white 
French zinc is made by burning the ^°^ 
metallic zinc. It is the most nearly pure 
white pigment we know, and is a most valu- 
able ingredient of paint. It is less heavy than 
white lead; 9.5 pounds white zinc and ^.J 
pounds oil make a gallon of paint, which 
weighs 15.2 pounds, or i gallon oil and 12 



10 House Painting 

pounds zinc make 1.3 gallons; or 100 pounds 
zinc and 8|^ gallons oil make io|- gallons of 
paint. 

Lithopone is a white pigment made by 
adding a solution of zinc sulphate to a solu- 
tion of barium sulphide; the result 
Lithopone 

is a precipitate containing barium 

sulphate and zinc sulphide. Lithopone, how- 
ever, is seldom of the exact composition thus 
indicated, and usually contains some zinc 
oxide. It is a pigment of considerable value, 
but cannot be used with lead; even a lead 
drier will turn it dark. It is said that it will 
mix with shellac, which neither white lead nor 
white zinc will do. 

There are other white powders, which are 
often put into white paint, to cheapen it 
(extend it), or to produce certain desirable 
qualities. These are barytes, which is natural 
barium sulphate, ground to a fine powder; 
blanc fixe, which is precipitated barium sul- 



Pigments 1 1 

phate; terra alba, which is hydrated calcium 
sulphate, or gypsum; whiting, which is 
powdered chalk, or calcium carbonate, 
marble dust, silica, silicate of magnesia, and 
China clay or kaohn. None of these are of 
any value by themselves; when wet with oil 
they become nearly transparent. It is not 
unlikely that some of these, in aggregate less 
than 25 per cent of the pigment, may be 
valuable; but their exact standing has not 
been settled. 

There are two principal blue pigments, 
ultramarine and Prussian blue; the most 
important yellow is chromate of colored 
lead, or chrome yellow; ocher is a ^smen s 
yellow clay, dried and powdered, containing 
iron; it is dull in color; green is a mixture of 
chrome yellow and Prussian blue, called 
chrome green; and for bright red we usually 
use a pigment made by precipitating a coal- 
tar color on barium or lead sulphate or some 



12 House Painting 

other neutral base. English vermilion is too 
costly to be used much in house-painting; the 
dull reds are oxides of iron, such as Venetian 
red, Tuscan red, Indian red, and the Hke; 
the browns are likewise iron oxides. The 
blacks are either boneblack or lamp black, 
though graphite is used as a preservative paint 
on metal. There are, of course, many other 
more expensive pigments, which are used in 
carriage-painting and the like, which may 
sometimes be used in the house, but as a rule 
house-paints are made up of the foregoing. 
To mix these pigments properly with oil they 
should first be mixed in a mechanical stirrer 
and then ground through a burr-stone mill; 
but it is not unusual to mix them in a stirrer, 
or mixer as it is called, and use them directly. 
Besides paint, the painter needs brushes. 
The best brushes for plain work are what are 
called pound brushes (most of them weigh 
less than half a pound, but that is the name 



Brushes l^ 

of them), which are round brushes nearly 
two inches in diameter and with bristles six 
inches long, when new. Next in paint 
value to these is an oval brush, two ^"^"shes 
and a half inches wide. A great deal of 
house-painting is done with four- and five- 
inch flat brushes; the objection to these is 
that it is too hard work to use them properly; 
the paint should be well rubbed on, and you 
cannot do this with a very wide brush. 
When using a new pound brush (or any brush 
with very long bristles) it is necessary to put a 
bridle on the brush. This consists in tying 
the bristles with an encircling band, and 
some do it by winding the brush with cord; 
but the easiest way, and I think the best, is to 
wrap a piece of cloth around the brush, a 
piece say eight inches wide, and tie it firmly 
first to the binding. Then with another piece 
of cord tie it around the bristles, say four 
inches from the end of the bristles, and two 



14 House Painting 

inches from the binding; then turn back the 
cloth, Hke a sleeve half turned inside out, 
and draw it tight, and tie it again around the 
binding. Trim it off, and the bridle is done. 
As the bristles wear short the bridle may be 
moved up, and finally removed. But don't 
buy a new brush with a bridle on it; take it 
off and see if the bristles are elastic and strong; 
soft, flabby bristles do not make a good brush. 
The best brush money can buy is a good 
investment. 

For varnishing use an oval or flat varnish 
brush. These do not have so long bristles; 
for most work a brush two and one-half inches 
wide is large enough, though for flowing var- 
nish on to a flat surface a four-inch flat brush 
is useful. 

Of course, for painting sash a small brush 
is necessary; brushes made for this purpose 
are called *'sash tools "; round brushes of 
various sizes, none very large. Some of these 



Brushes 1 5 

have a convex end, others are chiseled; a 
chisel end is one that has been cHpped off 
from each of two sides so as to give an edge 
along the middle of the end of the brush. 
Oval brushes are generally finished with a 
chisel end, especially oval varnish brushes; 
round and flat brushes not often, but flat 
varnish brushes have sometimes chisel ends. 
Some of these oval and flat bristle brushes are 
very useful in painting, especially about mold- 
ings and the like; from one to two and a half 
inches in width. In fact, a two-inch oval 
varnish brush is an exceedingly useful imple- 
ment for a great variety of work. For flowing 
on varnish a soft, flat brush, made of camel's 
hair, is best; it is convenient to have one 
narrow, say one inch, one medium, two inches, 
one wide, four inches. Paint is not easily 
handled with these soft brushes. Besides 
these, painters use dusting brushes, of stiff" 
bristles, loosely built, spreading Hke a broom; 



l6 House Painting 

and for cleaning old paint they use ordinary 
scrubbing brushes, and sometimes steel wire 
brushes, which are scrubbing brushes with 
stiff steel wire instead of bristles; a good style 
is about three inches wide and six or eight 
inches long, with wires three inches long. 

Care of Paint Brushes, 

Brushes used in oil paints and in oleo- 
resinous varnishes may be kept fresh and clean 
over-night, or while carrying them from place 
to place, by wrapping them closely in several 
thicknesses of paper; but brushes used in 
spirit varnishes, Hke shellac, should be 
washed out at once in alcohol, as they dry very 
quickly, and are then difficult to soften. 

The proper way to keep brushes, during 
short intervals when not in use, is in a brush- 
Brush- safe. A simple form, if several are 
^^*® to be kept, is a deep pail with a 
fairly tight cover; on the inside of the pail, at 



Care of Paint Brushes ij 

convenient distances from the top, are nails, 
on which the brushes may be hung by cor- 
responding holes bored in their handles, or by 
loops of twine at such a height that the bristles 
of the brushes are immersed, nearly up to the 
binding, in oil or turpentine which fills the 
pail several inches from the bottom. In this 
way the brush is prevented from drying, and 
yet it does not rest its weight on the bristles, 
which would cause it to get out of shape. If 
it is a shellac brush it must be hung in alcohol 
(or shellac varnish). It is always proper to 
hang a varnish brush in the kind of varnish in 
which it is used. A single small brush may 
be hung in a deep fruit jar, or a wide-mouthed 
bottle, by a string attached to the cover or 
cork. All large paint-stores sell brush-safes, 
made of tin, with hinged covers, and with con- 
venient hangers for brushes; but the principle 
is the same in all, and any one can contrive 
one for his own needs. 



1 8 House Painting 

When through with a job the brushes 
should be well washed out; this may be with 
turpentine, but a cheaper material is kerosene, 
which answers very well; if they can be rinsed 
out with benzine finally it is a good way. 

It is also a good plan to wash out the paint 
with kerosene (or turpentine) and then wash 
the brush thoroughly with soap and warm 
water, finally rinsing out very thoroughly; 
then by jerking the brush rapidly through 
the air most of the water may be thrown 
out; then hang it up to dry where it will be 
safe from dust. Dust is the great enemy of 
varnish. 

Old brushes which have been allowed to 

dry with the paint in them are usually thrown 

, away, or sold for a trifle to the 
Renovat- -^ 

ing junkman; in which latter case they 

Brushes i i i r 

come into the handsot a renovator, 

who softens them by soaking in hot kerosene, 

usually in a hot-water bath, the kerosene being 



Exterior Painting 1 9 

in the interior vessel and boiling water outside; 
after which they are cleaned by the use of a 
mixture of one part acetone and two parts 
benzole, or coal-tar naphtha. This mixture 
is a powerful solvent, and will dissolve the old 
dried paint out of almost any brush. Any of 
the modern varnish-removers, which contain 
these liquids, will do the same; and it is not 
necessary to throw away a costly brush be- 
cause it has been neglected. But the best 
way is not to neglect it. The best brushes are 
the cheapest in the end, and a valuable brush 
deserves good care. 

Exterior Painting. 

If we are to paint the outside of a new 
house, the first thing is to go over it and 
"stop " the knots and pitchy places, stopping 
This is done by covering them with ^ 
a coat of heavy shellac varnish. The tend- 
ency is for the pitch in the knot to ooze 



20 House Painting 

out and soften the paint and discolor it. 
The shellac is supposed to stop this, but it 
does so only very imperfectly; however, there 
is nothing else to do. This is so serious a 
difficulty that the late Mr. Masury, a cele- 
brated manufacturer and paint expert, ad- 
vised leaving the house unpainted, to the 
weather, for a year; by which time the pitch 
will be either washed out or hardened. In 
fact, it is not unusual for the paint applied to 
houses of southern pine to come off in the 
course of two or three years (or one year), 
and then the next paint adheres all right. 
However, most people insist on having a new 
house painted immediately, and the best that 
can be done is to stop the knots and the worst 
places with shellac. This works better inside 
than out. 

Then the priming coat is to be applied. 
Consider now what will happen if a coat of 
good thick paint is put on a clean board. 



Exterior Painting 21 

The oil is rapidly absorbed ; but the pigment 
stays on the surface, and having no oil, or 
httle, to bind it, it shortly becomes priming 
a dry powder and falls off. To pre- ^^^^ 
vent this, the obvious thing is to use less pig- 
ment and more oil. Therefore, to make a 
priming coat, add a gallon of raw oil to a 
gallon of ordinary paint; a spongy wood, like 
redwood, may take more oil. 

Redwood is a peculiar wood; it is very open 
and spongy, so much so that it is reputed a 
comparatively safe building material, because 
ii it takes fire a little water puts the fire out, 
as it is so readily absorbed by the wood that it 
ceases to burn. This explains the trouble 
often encountered in making paint stay on it; 
it requires more oil in the priming coat than 
other woods, so that the pores may be filled 
with oil, and thus a surface be formed for 
the adhesion of the subsequent coats of 
paint. 



22 House Painting 

Another very difficult wood to paint is 
cypress. This is not bad where the grain is 
straight and uniform, but around knots and 
burls the grain is filled with pitchy matter 
which effectually prevents the entrance of 
the oil of the priming coat. This resistance 
is not overcome by the addition of turpen- 
tine; and such places must be treated as 
pitchy places in hard pine, by a coat of 
shellac, which nevertheless is not satisfactory. 
Probably the only way to get really good 
results is to leave it exposed to the weather for 
a year before painting. On inside work the 
use of shellac is less objectionable, as it is 
permanent indoors. A priming coat should 
be used freely; put on all you can; not enough 
to run, but up to that limit. This coat is to 
fill the pores of the wood, and it is the most 
important of all. A gallon of this thin paint 
will cover about three hundred square feet. 
When this is dry, go over the surface and faith- 



Exterior Painting 23 

fully putty up all the nail-holes and other 

holes. If you put on the putty before the 

priminp; coat, it will not stick. 

. . Puttying 

Putty will be described elsewhere; 

it is crowded down hard into the holes with a 
stiff steel putty-knife. Then begins the real 
painting. Most houses are primed with some 
light color, the basis of which must be either 
lead or zinc. It is a general — not universal, 
but in the writer's opinion well-founded — 
belief that a mixture of the two is better than 
either alone. White lead tends to lose part of 
its oil by weathering, and then the loose pig- 
ment — not the whole of the paint, but the 
superficial part — comes off as a powder; 
chalks, as the painters say. Zinc does not do 
this, but makes a hard coating which tends to 
crack and peel off; and a mixture of, say, two 
parts white lead to one part white zinc is more 
durable than either. This will in many cases 
be colored by some of the pigments already 



24 House Painting 

mentioned. A little black mixed with white 
makes a pure gray; but a more agreeable gray 
results from a mixture with this of red, which 
makes a warmer tone, or blue, which is colder. 
Black and red make brown; drab and fawn 
color contain gray with red and yellow. Green 
is a mixture of blue and yellow, and the pale 
Color greens are derived from this by add- 
^ "^®^ ing it to white; but olive-green con- 
tains also an appreciable amount of yellow, 
more than enough to make a neutral green, and 
may be darkened with a Httle black. Orange 
is yellow with red, and with white this makes 
buff. Blue with red makes purple, and this 
with black gives maroon; a bright red with 
a little blue is crimson, and red with a little 
yellow is scarlet. White with a little red is 
pink. Besides the pure colors for tinting, 
already described, it is desirable to have a 
few others; thus, a good yellow ocher is a clear 
but not bright brownish yellow, and with 



Exterior Painting 25 

white gives straw or corn color; burnt umber 
is deep brown, and with white gives warm or 
reddish drab tints; raw umber gives yellowish 
drab. 

We may well consider the price we will 
have to pay for paint. Dry white lead is 
seldom sold as low as seven cents a cost of 
pound; white zinc at six cents is a ^^^^^ 
moderate price; oil has within a few years 
varied from ten and a half to four and a half 
cents a pound; let us say six cents for oil, and 
if we put in the necessary drier at the same 
price as the oil we shall underestimate it, 
for turpentine costs more than oil, and good 
drier is made from oil, turpentine, lead and 
manganese oxides, and with a large amount 
of highly skilled labor, while cheap rosin 
driers are an injury to any one who uses them. 
Calling the oil and drier six cents and lead 
seven, a gallon of white lead paint costs for 
materials $1.42, and a gallon of white zinc 



26 House Painting 

ninety-six cents. A paint made of two-thirds 
of a gallon of lead and one-third of a gallon of 
zinc costs ^1.27 for raw materials. If to this 
we add twelve cents for making a gallon, 
which is not far from the actual cost in large 
quantities, and eleven cents for packages and 
boxing, we have ^ i .50 as the factory cost. To 
this there should be added something for 
profit, and something for freight charges; and 
this gives an idea of what the buyer may 
expect to pay for a good article. If he buys a 
light-colored paint for less than the cost of 
good materials he must look out for himself. 
It is claimed by some undoubtedly expert paint 
manufacturers that by the addition of cer- 
tain cheaper materials, as silicates, carbonates, 
and the Hke, they can lessen the cost and still 
maintain the durability, and this is not im- 
possible nor indeed unUkely; but such paints 
are Hkely to be less opaque than pure lead and 
zinc paints, and hence may need an extra 



Exterior Painting 27 

coat to get the desired covering power, and 
this involves more labor. In plain work a 
man will put on from one to two gallons of 
paint a day (oftener one than more), so that 
the cost of labor is always more than that of 
the paint. If a dark-colored paint is used, 
this should not contain any lead or zinc, and 
will be at once more durable and cheaper; 
but, as a matter of fact, nearly all houses are 
painted with a light color. 

Ready-mixed paints are sold in enormous 
quantities, and are no doubt more convenient, 
uniform, and better made than those mixed 
by hand. If they are made of good mate- 
rials and by intelligent men they are in every 
way desirable. Such paints should be used 
strictly according to directions. 

Nothing is more objectionable than indis- 
criminate thinning of paint with turpentine or 
benzine, and nothing is more commonly done. 
Paint should, before using, be thoroughly 



28 House Painting 

stirred up from the bottom, and it will be no 
harm to strain it through two thicknesses of 
cheesecloth. Most experts advise that to the 
first coat of paint which is appHed over the 
priming coat, from half a pint in hot weather 
to a pint in cool weather of turpentine be 
added to each gallon of paint; this is to pre- 
vent gloss and enable the next coat to adhere 
well. For the last coat use no turpentine; the 
more gloss it has, the longer it will wear. A 
thin coat of paint will dry through more 

quickly than a thick one, and 
Thick or ^ -^ 

Thin most paint manufacturers advise 

f'QO + O ^ ^ , 

the appHcation of thin coats. There 
is no doubt that a given amount of paint 
applied in thin coats is better than the same 
amount flowed on in thick coats. On the 
other hand, it is not usual to apply more 
than two coats over the priming coat, and 
if these are too thin — and they are often 
made so, not so much by excessive brushing as 



Exterior Painting 29 

by thinning before use — they do not give 
proper protection. The late John W. Masury, 
the greatest paint-man of his time, advocated 
flowing on full, heavy coats. Mr. Houston 
Lowe, a manufacturer and undoubtedly a 
high authority, classifies pigments as active 
and inactive to Unseed oil, and beheves that 
active paints, like lead and zinc, are best in 
thin coats, and inactive, Hke iron oxides, etc., 
are better in thick, heavy coats. More time 
must be allowed between coats if they are 
thick; never less than a week; two weeks is 
better, a month still better. Painting is best 
done in moderately warm weather, not below 
50 degrees F., better at 70 degrees F.; in 
cold weather more time must be allowed for 
it to dry, and less uniform results are ob- 
tainable. It must be done in dry weather. 
Heavy coats in cold weather wrinkle and 
do all sorts of bad things. A gallon of 
paint ordinarily covers about 500 to 600 



30 House Painting 

square feet one coat; it may be brushed 
out to cover nearly twice that surface, 
but I do not approve of such thin coats. 
Some do. 

The door- and v^indow-casings, corner 
boards, and the Hke, are collectively called the 

"trim"; the majority of painters 
Painted do not paint these until they have 

laid on the body color, but some 
good painters advise painting the trim first. 
Of course the cornice is alw^ays painted first of 
all, as paint may drip from the brush on the 
v^all belovsr. The trim, w^hich is usually 
painted a different color or shade, amounts, 
on an ordinary house, to one-fourth or one- 
third the v^hole; it should be carefully esti- 
mated beforehand. A good man v^ill cover 
800 square feet in ten hours, if painting from a 
ladder; iioo to 1500 square feet if painting 
from a platform; but on intricate surfaces, 
like piazzas, very much less. Some painters 



Exterior Painting 31 

regard these figures as rather high; there are 
great differences in houses. 

Wall-shingles are sometimes, but not usu- 
ally, painted; they are often colored with a 
shingle-stain, which is a coloring Roof 
matter dissolved or suspended in ^*^"*^°S 
a volatile Hquid called creosote, in which the 
shingles are dipped. Roof-shingles are some- 
times dipped in Hnseed oil and allowed to dry 
before using. Tin or other metal roofs are 
difficult to paint, because the tin has an im- 
perceptible coating of grease, or of some 
chemical substance used in its manufacture, 
which prevents the adhesion of paint; if this 
is removed by thoroughly scrubbing the sur- 
face with soap and water, or with coarse 
cloths wet with benzine, the paint will then 
adhere. Galvanized iron rain-spouts and 
gutters are to be treated the same way, other- 
wise paint will not stick to galvanized iron 
until it has been some time in use. Roof- 



32 House Painting 

paint should contain no turpentine and little 
or no drier, and should be rich in oil. "Fire- 
proof paint," sometimes used on shingle 
roofs, is made by adding to a gallon of any 
good paint about a pound of powdered boracic 
acid. This is not really fire-proof, but 
retards the spread of fire; the heat fuses the 
boracic acid to a sort of glass, which keeps out 
the air. It is of no value until it gets thor- 
oughly dry, and in the course of a year or two 
the acid is washed out by the rain; for a time 
it has considerable effect. 

Canvas roofs and floors are made thus: 
the canvas is nailed down, avoiding any large 
Canvas wrinkles, but paying no attention to 
^®®*^ small ones. Then wet it thoroughly 
with water; the cloth will shrink and be per- 
fectly smooth. It is customary to apply 
white lead paint while still wet; but it may 
be allowed to dry before painting, as the 
wrinkles do not come back. 



Exterior Painting 33 

As to paints not based on lead or zinc, they 
are dark in color, made with inert pigments, 
and are usually very durable, more so than 
the lead and zinc paints. The following 
suggestion may be considered properly in 
connection with exterior painting: in building 
a house, the door and window frames should 
receive a coat of paint, which may be a cheap 
iron oxide paint, on their inner surfaces, that 
is, on the surfaces which will be concealed in 
the subsequent construction. This will have 
great effect in preventing decay, and should 
always be done. The under side of piazza 
floors and door-steps should be similarly 
protected. Exterior varnishing, as of rail- 
ings, will be considered with the general 
subject of varnishing. 



^4 House Painting 

Painting Structural Metal. 

By structural metal we commonly mean 
steel and cast iron; wrought iron is rarely 
used, and is more durable than steel. Cast 
iron is much less liable to rust than steel; and 
as it is thicker, there is less danger of its total 
destruction. Steel, if not properly cared for, 
perishes more rapidly than wood; and it is 
therefore imperative that it should receive 
adequate protection. 

In the first place, the surface must be clean. 

If it is already rusty, do not paint over the 

Cleaning existing rust; clean it off with steel 

^^^^^ scrapers, wire brushes, and finally 
with dry scrubbing brushes. It would be 
better if it could be made absolutely clean 
by the use of acid or the sand blast, but the 
steel used in houses is not Hkely to be treated 
in this way. But do not spare labor to get 
it as clean as possible; then the paint will 



Painting Structural Metal 35 

stick to the metal. As the oil does not soak 
into the surface, it is not necessary to have a 
thin paint, but it may receive three coats of 
some good paint. Graphite is largely used 
as a pigment for these paints; there are some 
varnish paints and varnish-like preparations 
w^hich are good; red lead mixed v^ith linseed 
oil, in the proportion of eighteen to twenty- 
four pounds of pigment to a gallon of oil, 
mixed on the spot and immediately before 
using, is very much liked. It makes a good 
under-coat; its color and w^orking Painting 
qualities may be improved by add- ^^^^^ 
ing lampblack; and it should be covered by a 
coat of some other paint. Whatever paint is 
used should be v^ell brushed on to the surface 
of the metal, in order to remove, as much as 
possible, the film of air v^hich tends to prevent 
perfect adhesion, and any crevices v^here the 
steel is riveted should receive special attention. 
The rust usually appears first on edges. 



36 House Painting 

angles, and rivet- and bolt-heads; care should 
be taken that these receive full coats of paint. 
Slov^-drying paints should be used on struc- 
tural metal, and plenty of time to dry should 
elapse between coats. 

Interior Painting. 

Sometimes all the interior woodwork is 

painted; often, in houses where varnish is the 

_ . . principal finish, certain rooms are 
Priming ^ ^ 

and painted. For this a somewhat 
quicker-drying paint is used than 
for exteriors; paint is much more durable 
when not exposed to the weather, and a 
quick-drying paint is allowable. This may 
be an ordinary oil-paint, such as has already 
been described; more often it contains a 
portion of varnish in place of part of the oil, 
and is called a gloss paint, as it has consider- 
able luster; these, if well made, are the most 
generally serviceable; for fine finishes enamel 



Interior Painting 37 

paints are used. In these the vehicle is a 
varnish. Before beginning to paint, all knots 
and pitchy places, and all sap-w^ood, are given 
a heavy coat of shellac varnish. In all cases 
the foundation is a priming coat of white lead 
and oil, to v^hich ten per cent of pale japan 
drier has been added; it should be almost all 
oil, very litde lead. When this is dry, all nail- 
holes and crevices should be puttied up; the 
putty for this purpose is made by w^orking dry 
v^hite lead into paste v^hite lead until it is of 
the right consistency; this dries quickly and 
very hard. It is not applied vs^ith a steel 
putty-knife, as this is liable to scratch the 
w^ood, and scratches v^ill show on interior 
work; use a wooden spatula, or a conveniently 
shaped stick of hard wood. The white lead 
putty is made immediately before using. The 
first full coat is lead, oil, and turpentine; this 
may be made by thinning paste lead with a 
mixture of equal parts oil and turpentine; 



38 House Painting 

this will dry quickly to a hard, "flat" surface, 
to which the next coat will adhere. The next 
coat should have about half as much turpen- 
tine in it as the preceding, and the final coat 
Finishing none at all. If there is any gloss 
Co^t when the next to the last coat is 
fully dry, it must be removed by lightly rub- 
bing with sandpaper, or with curled hair, or 
with a handful of excelsior. If an enamel 
paint is to be used for the finish, the second 
full coat is sandpapered to produce a smooth 
surface, over which the enamel is flowed on 
in a full coat. For extra good work this coat 
of enamel, when quite hard, is sandpapered, 
and another coat of enamel is applied. This 
may be left with its full gloss, or it may 
be rubbed with pumice and water to a flat 
(dull) surface. 

When paint or varnish is spread out in a 
thin film it remains a liquid for a considerable 
time, then becomes a sticky, jelly-like sub- 



Interior Painting 39 

stance, which will not run; then it becomes 
firmer, but still sticky; in this condition it is 
said to be "tacky"; then it be- Time 
comes hard enough to handle. ■^Q^^pat^ 
From the time it is applied until it to Dry 
first reaches this stage, the time should be 
noted; suppose it to be twelve hours; then at 
least four times as much longer, or forty-eig*ht 
hours, or! sixty hours altogether, should pass 
before another coat may be applied. A longer 
time than this is better, but this is the shortest; 
and this rule applies to outside and inside 
work, and to varnish as well as paint. For 
very quick-drying varnishes, such as shellac, 
this rule does not allow nearly enough time. 

Old plastered walls may be given a coat of 
priming and then painted as though they 
were any other kind of a prepared painting 
surface. Many painters give a °° Plaster 
plastered interior wall a coat of size, or thin 
solution of glue, for a priming coat. New 



40 Mouse Painting 

plaster is alkaline and is liable to attack paint; 
it is better to let it stand a year; but if neces- 
sary to do it at once, give it a coat of strong 
alum and soap size, as described under the 
subject of Kalsomine; when dry, sponge off 
and paint. Size is not used on exterior work. 

Varnishing. 

There are two principal kinds of varnish, 
spirit and oleo-resinous. The most impor- 
tant spirit varnish is a solution of shellac in 
Shellac alcohol; the American standard is 
Varnish jyj^jg \^y dissolving five pounds of 
shellac in a gallon of alcohol; but this is too 
heavy for common use, and three and a half 
pounds is more generally suitable. Shellac is 
naturally dull orange-yellow in color, and is 
called orange shellac in distinction from white 
shellac, which is the same bleached with 
chlorine. It is of better quality before bleach- 
ing, but, of course, darker in color. Orange 



Varnishing 4 1 

shellac varnish may be made in an earthen 
jar, half full of alcohol; to each gallon of alco- 
hol weigh out three and a half pounds of dry 
shellac (gum-shellac), in flakes, and at night 
gently drop this into the alcohol. Do not on 
any account stir it, not even once. Cover it, 
and next morning stir it with a stick; avoid 
anything with iron, as iron quickly discolors 
it. Once an hour stir it for a minute or two, 
and by night it will be dissolved. White 
shellac is dissolved in a churn, or in a vessel 
where it is agitated with a mechanical stirrer. 
Orange shellac will dissolve in 85 per cent 
alcohol, though stronger alcohol is better; but 
white requires 95 per cent. White shellac 
resin does not keep well; it is Hable to be- 
come insoluble, and should be dissolved as 
soon as purchased. In spirit varnishes the 
liquid, or vehicle, is volatile and serves as 
a means of spreading the resin in a thin, 
uniform film. Damar is another spirit var- 



42 House Painting 

nish, and is a solution of damar resin in 
turpentine. 

Oleo-resinous varnishes are made by dis- 
solving certain resins in linseed oil, with the 

aid of heat; and as one effect of the 
Oleo- 
resinous resin is to thicken the oil, they are 

Varnish , . i • i • / i • 

thinned v^ith turpentine (or a substi- 
tute). The larger the proportion of resin, the 
quicker they are to dry, also the harder and 
more lustrous, but also the less elastic and 
durable. The best of these are more durable 
than the spirit varnishes. The dark-colored 
varnishes are less costly than the paler ones, 
because the clear, transparent resins are more 
rare and expensive; but they are just as good 
in everything but color, and for many pur- 
poses this is no objection, as where they are 
used over dark wood, or as an ingredient of 
paint (except pure white paint). 

The resins used in varnish-making are of 
vegetable origin, and come from the warmer 



Varnishing 43 

parts of the earth, mostly from Africa, the 

PhiHppine Islands, and from Brazil; though 

one important and valuable resin ^ 

^ Source of 

comes from New Zealand, which is Varnish 

• 1 1 • >-x^i 1 Resins 

outside the tropics. 1 hey have 

formed lumps on the trees, as spruce-gum is 
found on spruce trees in this country, but in 
larger pieces; but for the most part they are 
dug up from the earth, the trees which produce 
them having long ago fallen and decayed, and 
by being long buried in the earth the resin has 
become harder and more valuable. Fresh 
resins are, as a rule, too soft to make good var- 
nish. They are of many different Making 
kinds, and are believed to have ^'^ ^^'^^^^ 
been produced by various hardwood trees. 
The varnish-maker puts a hundred pounds of 
resin in a kettle over a hot fire, and when it is 
melted it is at about the temperature of melted 
lead; then he puts in hot linseed oil. If he 
puts in oil equal in weight to the melted resin 



44 House Painting 

(which has lost between a fifth and a fourth 
of its weight in melting), he will make a hard, 
lustrous varnish, suitable for tables and other 
furniture; if he puts in twice this amount, he 
will have a varnish suitable for general interior 
house-varnishing, elastic and durable, but not 
quite hard enough for furniture; if he puts in 
three times as much oil as resin, he will make 
a very elastic, durable varnish which will get 
hard out of doors, but indoors will harden too 
slowly to be agreeable to use. After the oil is 
put with the resin the compound is cooked 

several hours until it has thoroughly 

Use of ^ ^ 

Tur- united; then turpentine is added in 

pentine ^ . i • i • 

sumcient amount to make it thm 

enough to use, for it is evident that the resin 
will have thickened the oil so that it would 
not brush out. 

It will be seen that the first and most impor- 
tant cause of differences in varnishes is the 
relative proportion of resin and oil. It is also 



Varnishing 45 

true that if the varnish is not cooked enough 
to thoroughly combine the ingredients, it will 
lack durability; and also that it may be partly 
decomposed by overheating. If it is just 
right, it will repel water, and not be affected 
by it; but if not well made, or if made of poor 
materials, it may absorb water and be injured 
if subjected to its action, which is certain to 
take place. One of the most important and 
easily made tests for varnish is to varnish a 
board well with it and let it dry Sponge 
well; then put a wet sponge on it ®^ 
over-night. If it is bright and clear next 
morning, it is a good varnish of its kind, so far 
as durability is concerned; but if it turns 
white, it shows that it has absorbed water; and 
if it remains white after it has dried out, it 
shows that the water has dissolved out part 
of it. Such a varnish should not be used on 
wood-work about a house. 

It is not a good sign to have a varnish dry 



46 House Painting 

very quickly, as it may indicate that it is 

overloaded with drier, and that will injure 

its durability. A good house-varnish should 

be dry to the touch over-night, at summer 

temperature in dry weather, but it should 

stand a week before receiving another coat. 

Varnish should be put on in a thin coat, 

rapidly brushed out; if it is of good flowing 

quality and does not "set" rapidly, 
How to ^ -^ r j^ 

Apply it is usual to brush it on with the 

grain of the wood, then cross-brush 

it, and again brush it with the grain; in this 

way inequalities in the coat are obliterated, 

and a fine uniform film is the result. 

The varnish-user classifies woods as open- 
or close-grained; the most common open- 
grained woods are oak, chestnut, 
and ash; close-grained, the various 
sorts of pine, cedar, cypress, maple, birch, 
whitewood, cherry, etc. Open-grained woods 
must have the grain filled with what is called a 



Famishing 47 

wood filler; this is a sort of paint, made of 
silex, or ground quartz rock, mixed with a 
quick-drying varnish to the consistency of 
paste, hence called a paste filler; it is thinned 
with turpentine before using. It is nearly 
colorless; but if desired to stain the wood, 
before using, the filler may be colored as 
desired with an oil stain, which is a pigment 
ground in enough oil to make a paste; a Uttle 
of this is added to the filler when thinning it. 
The filler is rubbed into the surface of the 
' wood with a short, stiff brush. It will be 
fairly dry to the touch in a quarter to half an 
hour, and the surplus is then rubbed off with 
a handful of excelsior, rubbing hard across 
the grain of the wood, to force the filler into 
the pores as much as possible. Use sticks, 
not steel tools, to clean the filler out of corners 
and quirks of the woodwork. Interior trim 
is usually finished in its natural color; but 
sometimes the window-sash is stained, to 



48 House Painting 

resemble cherry or mahogany (with raw 
sienna); and sometimes the woodwork is 
colored with a dye dissolved in alcohol or 
turpentine; water stains are not used, except 
as to be described later. The filler should be 
allowed a day or two to dry, but close-grained 
woods do not require fiUing; then the first coat 
of varnish is applied. Greater economy will 
result if a coat of oil is first used, but it darkens 
the wood somewhat. When the varnish is 
dry, in five to ten days, rub it with curled hair 
or excelsior to remove the gloss, and apply the 
second coat; treat this in the same way. This 
Rubbing may, however, be rubbed lightly 
Varnish ^|^j^ ^^^ sandpaper or glass-paper. 
If the third is to be the finishing coat (four 
coats are better), it may be left with the natural 
gloss, or it may be rubbed with pumice and 
water to a dull (flat) finish. The natural 
gloss is the most durable. For rubbing vdth 
pumice, a piece of felt is used; it may be had 



Varnishing 49 

from half an inch to an inch in thickness; this 
is thoroughly wet with water, then a little 
powdered pumice is put on it, and the surface 
is rubbed with long, even strokes. From time 
to time the surface is washed off with clean 
water, wiped off with a piece of clean chamois- 
leather, dried with another chamois-leather, 
and examined. 

All surfaces exposed to the sun, as window- 
sash, sills, jambs, inside blinds, outer doors, 
railings, and the like, are treated as Exterior 
exterior work, and do not receive Varnishing 
the varnish used on interior trim, but are 
varnished with what is called spar-varnish, 
which is made for the spars and exterior wood- 
work of yachts. No filler is used on this 
work, as under the influence of the direct rays 
of the sun it would be decomposed and come 
out. The whole surface is built up of suc- 
cessive coats of spar, Hghtly sandpapered 
between coats; but the last is a full coat flowed 



50 House Painting ■ 

on, and left always with the natural gloss. 
Outside doors need varnishing every year; but 
inside work, though done with a less elastic 
varnish, if these directions have been fol- 
lowed, and if good materials have been used, 
will last fifteen or twenty years; so great is 
the effect of the direct sunshine. 

On interior work shellac is a good first coat 
material, but it should never be used on ex- 
Shellac terior work, nor where it will be very 
j^^ ^° hot, as about a fireplace, as it will 
Varnish melt and bhster. For most in- 
terior work, shellac is a good varnish, and 
white shellac discolors wood less than any- 
thing else. It is appHed in thin coats and 
given plenty of time to dry. Two coats may 
be applied the first day, six hours apart; after 
that allow two days between coats. It 
will appear to dry very rapidly; but if plenty 
of time is not taken we shall reach a point 
where it will not dry at all, or at least will 



Varnishing 51 

seem so. It requires many coats; does not 
require rubbing between coats, as it will stick 
anyway, but every four coats ought to be well 
rubbed, to get a smooth surface. Eight to 
twelve coats are required for a first-class job. 
On account of the labor required, it is an 
expensive finish, but it is very handsome 
and lasts well. It makes a good floor- 
varnish; when the floor is well filled with it, 
a very thin coat once a month, which will 
dry in a few minutes, will keep the floor in 
good condition. One more word about fill- 
ers. Never use a so-called Hquid filler on any 
account. Nothing but trouble will come of it. 
A coat of shellac varnish may be used, if 
desired, as a filler; it is not much of a filler 
but it is a good surfacer; but what are sold 
as liquid fillers are cheap and villainous 
rosin mixtures and are no good. 

Let us consider what will happen to a coat 
of paint or varnish if we apply a hard-drying 



52 House Painting 

layer over an elastic one. If we were to paint 
with something — say white zinc — which 

Elastic would make a hard, somewhat in- 
^^ . " elastic coating, on a rubber balloon, 

Crack such as children have for toys, and 
the paint ^ere to dry while the balloon re- 
mained the same size; and then if we blow up 
the balloon so that it will be larger, and conse- 
quently the rubber film, which is the founda- 
tion, is stretched, it is obvious that the dry 
paint will crack in every direction, and the 
rubber will show through the cracks. That 
makes what the varnish-man calls an elastic 
undercoat crack, and it is more common than 
it ought to be. The natural effect of exposure 
is to harden the outside of a film, so that in 
many cases if the film were originally of one 
nature throughout it would become less elastic 
on the outside; so the general rule is to have 
the h^est material first applied, then that 
which is a Httle more elastic, and so on, with 



Varnishing ^3 

the finishing coat most elastic of all. We do 
this in the ordinary method of painting, as 
already described, having less oil in the under- 
coats; the fact that we have a great deal of oil 
in the priming coat on wood does not count, 
because that is absorbed by the wood and be- 
comes a part of the material which we begin 
to paint. In carriage painting, which if prop- 
erly done is the highest class of technical paint- 
ing, the workman begins by filling the minute 
pores of the wood with oil; then he stops the 
larger pores with a siliceous filler; then he 
builds up an extremely hard and perfectly 
smooth surface with a sort of varnish paint 
having a gritty mineral base, and having thus 
estabhshed what he considers an unchanging 
foundation he is ready to begin to paint. We 
cannot afford to do all that in house painting, 
but it must be remembered that our priming 
coats and putty and fillers are not properly 
part of the painting or varnishing; they are 



54 House Painting 

treatment of the wood to make it ready and 

fit to paint and varnish. And if you cannot 

Proper have a good foundation, you might 

lion for" ^^ ^^^^ "°^ ^^ anything. It may be 
Varnish asked how we get cracks over an 
elastic under-coat; it is because the wood or 
other soKd substratum does not expand and 
contract, under the influence of the weather, 
at the same rate that the paint does. Now if 
the paint is in every place firmly cemented to 
the wood, it will be stretched or compressed, 
only a very little in a place to be sure, but 
with great force, and the result will be that it 
will remain a continuous film; but if there is 
an elastic film between, patches of the paint 
or varnish will remain compact, and there will 
be cracks between these patches. Paint or 
varnish which does this is said to "alligator," 
from the resemblance to alligator leather. 

It will be obvious from this that it is neces- 
sary to give the priming coat, which is mainly 



Varnishing 55 

oil, time to dry; and also that this priming coat 
should be made with raw oil rather than boiled 
oil, for raw oil will soak deeply into the wood, 
and that is where it belongs; while boiled oil 
tends to form a skin on the surface, and so 
remains outside; and under this skin a soft 
body of oily paint is formed. This is really 
the reason why so many object to the use of 
boiled oil; it has a tendency to form a glossy 
skin outside before it begins to dry from the 
bottom. Of course all oil does this to some 
extent, but it is generally believed that raw oil 
with enough liquid drier in it to make it dry 
in the same time as a kettle-boiled oil will dry 
more uniformly. Boiled oil makes a more 
glossy, varnish-like film; in fact, oil may be 
boiled so much and in such a way as to make 
a sort of varnish of it, and a great deal of such 
varnish is used in the useful arts. Boiled oil 
has its use in making paint, but it is not in the 
priming coat. 



56 House Painting 

Not infrequently there are porous places in 
the wood which absorb the priming coat so 

completely that some of the oil of 

^P°^^^°S , .,11- J u- 

the next coat will soak m, and this 

leaves the paint on those spots dull or "flat." 
Also there are hard or pitchy places where the 
primer does not penetrate, and dries on the 
surface, and there will be glossy spots. Spot- 
ting from either of these causes is not the fault 
of the paint. 

Blistering is generally caused by moisture 
in the wood, especially in soft or sappy places. 

It is a good plan to postpone paint- 
Blistering . -1 r 1 1 

mg a new house until after the plas- 
tering is done, for this introduces a great 
amount of water which evaporates directly 
against or close to the outer wall, and the 
moisture is liable to penetrate the siding and 
make bhsters in the new, soft paint. It must 
be remembered that paint continues to get 
hard for probably a year, and paint which is 



Famishing 57 

only two or three weeks old is not yet in its 

permanent condition. 

It is of great importance to have the oil in 

the priming coat sink deeply into the wood; 

and if the latter be of such nature 

Peeling 
(like southern pine) that it will not 

do so, then there is danger that it will peel off. 

Paint contracts on drying; and the second and 

third coats exert a strong pull on the priming 

coat, tending to pull it off unless it is securely 

attached to the wood. This is more likely to 

occur on the south than on the north side of a 

house, as the action of the sun has much to do 

with it. 

In repainting an old house this must have 

close attention. If the original priming coat 

is not in good condition it must be Burning 

removed; to examine this, we must 

scrape or wire-brush all loose and decomposed 

paint; and if the original primer does not hold 

firmly to the wood, it may be necessary to burn 



58 House Painting 

off the whole of the old paint. Burning off is 
done with an instrument called a painter's 
torch, which burns alcohol, naphtha, or kero- 
sene, and with which a strong blast of flame 
can be directed against a surface. The paint 
is not really burned; but it softens and seems 
to melt, and is then immediately scraped off 
with a steel scraper. It is, of course, a slow 
and consequently somewhat expensive opera- 
tion; but there are cases where it is the 
cheapest thing to do, in the end. 

Besides the painter's torch, varnish removers 
are used to take off paint and varnish; but. 
Varnish being more expensive, these are 
Removers ^^^j ^^^y on indoor work, and 
especially on moldings and the like, where 
the torch may do damage. A varnish remover 
is a liquid which will dissolve dried varnish 
and paint; it softens the film so that it may be 
scraped off, or cleaned off with a very stiff 
scrubbing brush. It is usually made of ace- 



A Colored Finish JVithout Paint 59 

tone, benzole, and similar liquids, and the best 
contain some waxy substance which prevents 
the film from drying up again rapidly. They 
are inflammable and must be used with care. 
The best are patented. After removing the 
old paint or varnish, the paint remover is 
washed off with benzine, but the surface 
should stand exposed to the air at least a 
w^eek to let the last of it evaporate, before 
repainting. 

A Colored Finish Without Paint. 

A very handsome and comparatively new 

finish for open-grained woods consists in 

dyeing the wood with a water-stain; A Novel 

when it is dry the grain is filled with ^*y^®.°* 
■^ ^ Interior 

a colored filler; this filler may be an Finish 
ordinary colorless silica paste-filler to which 
has been added a pigment of a suitable 
color, or it may be paste white lead if a white 
color is desired. As the oil and turpentine 



6o House Painting 

in the filler do not tend to dissolve or mix 
with the color of the water-stain, we have 
a sharp contrast between the dyed wood, 
which forms a background, and the filler in the 
grain of the wood; for instance, the latter may 
be white on a blue ground, or dark blue on 
pale blue, or any other combination of colors 
which may strike the fancy of the designer. 
In this way very striking effects, harmonizing 
with the general color scheme of the room- 
furnishings, may be easily obtained. Of 
course, the wood will be subsequently finished 
with a transparent varnish, as any other wood- 
work would be. Some very costly and artistic 
buildings, both public and private, have been 
done in this way, 



Floor-Finishing 6 1 

Floor-Ftnishing. 

Probably the easiest thing to do with a floor 
is to paint it; a floor-paint should have a very 
elastic varnish for its vehicle. It is Floor- 
necessary that a floor-paint should ^^^°*^°S 
dry hard and quickly, because floors must be 
painted frequently, and we cannot wait long 
for them to dry. By the use of varnish we can 
make a floor-paint that will dry in twelve to 
twenty-four hours, be water-proof, and glossy. 
If we make an ordinary oil-paint dry as 
quickly by adding driers, it is so much aflPected 
that it is not as durable as it should be; and if 
we do it partly by using turpentine, it dimin- 
ishes the necessary amount of binder. The 
country painter adds to ordinary oil-paint a 
liquid which he buys under the seductive 
name of "floor paint hardener''; this is a 
cheap rosin varnish loaded to the last degree 
with driers, and is in about every rational way 



62 House Painting 

the worst stuff known in the whole paint 
business. No rosin varnish should be used on 
any of the woodwork of a house, least of all 
on the floor. The varnish should be a good 
Kauri varnish, or its equivalent. It ought to 
contain about twenty gallons of oil to the 
hundred pounds of resin; it will need some 
drier, more than an ordinary interior varnish, 
but its quick drying is not to be obtained by 
diminishing the amount of oil, or the paint 
will chip and flake off. An ordinary paint 
will do for a floor if two or three months can 
be allowed for it to dry. 

Kitchen floors are usually painted, but it is 
usual to varnish or wax the other floors in the 
better class of houses. In such cases, if the 
house is building, it is very desirable to leave 
the surfacing floor (for all floors should be 
double) unlaid until the last thing; after the 
plastering and painting are done, there will be 
little danger of its being injured, and then it 



Floor-Finishing 63 

may be laid and immediately varnished. If 

the floor is of oak or other open-grained wood, 

it is customary to fill the pores with a siliceous 

paste-filler, as has been described for other 

work; if close-grained, no treatment is needed. 

Now we have choice of three finishes. 

First, the use of an oleo-resinous floor-varnish; 

this should contain about eighteen 

^ Floor- 

gallons of oil to the hundred pounds Vamish- 

of good hard varnish resin, as good ^°^ 
in quality as No. i Kauri. This may be 
applied directly to the floor, and the first coat 
will sink in and be absorbed by the wood. We 
may, if we hke, first fill the pores of the wood 
with Hnseed oil; there is but one objection 
to this, which is that it darkens the wood; it 
becomes somewhat darker immediately, but 
keeps darkening for some time. Anything con- 
taining hnseed oil grows darker with age, — 
that is, any transparent wood-finish. And so 
it is true that an oleo-resinous varnish darkens 



64 House Painting 

the wood somewhat. Not less than four 
coats of varnish should be applied; the 
trouble with all floor-finishes is that they 
are too thin, and wear off too quickly; for 
a floor has harder usage than anything else. 
And plenty of time must be allowed for 
each coat to dry. 

Second, we may varnish the floor with shel- 
lac varnish. The same rules apply to shel- 
Shellac for lacking floors that have been given 
Floors • j^ regard to its use on other wood- 
work; it is the least discoloring of anything 
that can be put on a floor, and is a very good 
finish. It is not as hard or durable as a 
good oleo-resinous varnish, but a thin coat of 
it, which dries in a few minutes, can be 
quickly and easily applied once in a month 
or two (or much less often in rooms little 
used), and will keep it always looking well. 
White shellac is usually employed for floor- 
varnish. 



Floor-Ftnishing 65 

Third, the floor may be waxed. It is com- 
mon practice to first shellac the floor, one 
or two coats, and then apply the pioor 
wax. The wax is not beeswax, but ^*^ 
a harder wax; this is softened a Httle with oil, 
and then turpentine enough is added to make 
a paste, and this is put on the floor, and as soon 
as it is apparently dry it is poKshed by rubbing 
with a clean cloth or a brush. For this pur- 
pose a heavy-weighted brush, weighing ten to 
twenty pounds, is used, with a long handle Hke 
a mop-handle; with this the floor may be 
polished. After a week apply another coat 
of wax and polish again; keep this up for two 
months; after this it may be considered that 
the floor is properly waxed, and only a little 
need be applied. A waxed or varnished 
floor is always to be cleaned with a brush or 
with a broom wrapped in a soft cloth to avoid 
scratches. But the waxed floor, to be kept 
in fine condition, must be brush-polished every 



66 House Painting 

few days; and once in a couple of weeks should 
be sprinkled with a solution of wax in turpen- 
tine; or better, this may be put on with a brush 
or a cloth. Prepared floor-wax may now be 
bought everywhere, much better than the 
amateur can make. 

A properly kept waxed floor is certainly the 
handsomest floor that is known; but if kept 
well pohshed it is excessively and, many people 
think, dangerously slippery. 

It is not out of place here to tell of a very 
singular fact. A floor varnished every six 
months with a good Kauri varnish will keep 
buff'alo moths out of rugs laid on it; similarly, 
a varnish of this kind thoroughly used about 
the woodwork, including the interiors of 
closets, has a very appreciable influence in 
keeping all sorts of insects out of a house. 
Shellac or wax will not do this. 

Old floors are to be cleaned before varnish- 
ing or waxing. If nothing but shellac or wax 



Floor-Finishing 67 

has been used on them, the. wax may be 
cleaned off with a cloth wet with turpen- 
tine, and the shellac will wash _ 

Cleaning 

off with a strong solution of Old 
washing-soda (carbonate); in fact, 
this will take off wax also. But if an 
oleo-resinous varnish, or a paint, has been 
used, it is removed with a liquid varnish- 
remover, which softens it so that it can be 
scraped off with a scraper; it may require 
more than one appHcation. After the removal 
of the paint or varnish the floor is sponged off 
with benzine; care must be taken that there is 
no fire of any sort or description in the room or 
in any adjoining room. The varnish-remover 
consists chiefly of volatile and inflammable 
liquids, and too much care cannot be taken. 
Stains may then be taken out with a hot ten 
per cent solution of oxalic acid in water; after 
the stain is destroyed, wash with hot water 
and let it dry, then lightly sandpaper the spot. 



68 House Painting 

It is possible to clean a floor of paint or var- 
nish with caustic soda; put the contents of a 
can of "concentrated lye" in a couple of 
gallons of warm water and wet the floor with 
it. After a time the old paint will be attacked 
and can be scraped off", and then the floor may 
be washed perfectly clean. Of course the 
caustic soda will sink into the wood, and it will 
be impossible to varnish it soon; but repeated 
washings, at intervals, for six months will 
take out the last of it, and then the floor will 
be in very good condition for varnishing. 

Glazing. 

Window glass is of two sorts: plate glass 
and sheet or cyHnder glass; the latter is the 

Window more common. Sheet glass is 

^^^^^ made by blowing a cylinder of glass 

which for the larger sizes has to be about 

fifteen inches in diameter and seven or eight 

feet long; when cold the ends are cut off, the 



Glazing 69 

cylinder is cut open lengthwise and put into an 
oven; when hot it can be opened and spread 
out into a sheet; such a sheet will afford a 
piece of glass 40 by 60 inches, which is the 
largest regular size. Smaller sizes are cut out 
of large sheets. "Single thick" glass is about 
one-sixteenth of an inch thick, and "double 
thick" is about twice this thickness. The prod- 
ucts of different mills differ in thickness as in 
everything else, so there is no exact uniformity 
of thickness. All glass is imperfect, showing 
streaks of irregular thickness, bits of dirt, and 
bubbles; it is all inspected at the factory and 
graded. Foreign glassmakers have each his 
own marks for quality, so there are no grades 
corresponding to ours; but American makers 
classify sheet glass as AA, A, B, and "stock 
sheets." The sizes for single-thick glass run 
up to 28 by 34, and of double thick to 40 by 
60 inches. 

Plate glass is not blown, but is cast in plates 



70 House Painting 

on iron tables fifteen by twenty-five feet; on 
these hot tables it is compacted and made of 
Plate uniform thickness by a roller, which 
Glass leaves it half or five-eighths of an 
inch thick; it is annealed first of all, and then 
ground with sand and emery to a thickness of 
five-sixteenths to a quarter of an inch thick, 
and then polished. There is, however, a thin- 
ner sort, about like double-thick sheet glass, 
called crystal plate, used for car windows and 
the like. Selected sheets of plate glass are 
reserved for silvering and are called mirror 
plate. 

New sash must receive a priming coat; if 
the sash is to be painted, this is a priming coat 
of white lead containing perhaps four or five 
pounds of white lead to the gallon; but if the 
sash are to be varnished, they are primed 
with oil alone. The oil usually has a little 
drier added to it, or boiled oil is used; but, as 
has been explained, boiled oil is not much 



Glazing J I 

used for priming coats. The special object 
of priming is to prevent the wood absorbing 
oil from the putty. Ordinary putty 
is a mixture of whiting (pulverized 
chalk) and raw Hnseed oil; some makers add 
about five per cent cotton oil, to increase the 
keeping quality; it is mixed to a stiff mass, 
like dough, by machinery; but, Hke dough, it 
can be equally well made by hand. Machine- 
made putty of the best quahty can be made 
and sold by the ton for three cents a pound; 
but it is almost impossible to buy good putty 
in the open market; marble dust is substituted 
for whiting, and rosin and mineral oil for the 
oil, and this putty is an injury to the consumer; 
it will not hold the glass in, it crumbles and 
falls out, and then the glass falls out and 
breaks, or if it is not allowed to go so far as 
that, it becomes necessary to take out the win- 
dow, clean off the old putty and replace it. 
The conditions have become so bad that good 



72 House Painting 

retail dealers have their putty made by hand 
by their own employees. At three cents a 
pound, a dollar will buy enough to putty all 
the glass in an ordinary dwelling-house. The 
man who is having a house built will do well 
to provide in his contract that he may retain 
from the contract price the sum of one dollar 
per window for two years, to be forfeited if the 
putty crumbles in that time. Then the builder 
will be interested in the matter; he can prob- 
ably save only half a dollar on the whole house 
by buying inferior putty; and if this were gen- 
erally practiced, this nuisance of adulterated 
putty would shortly disappear. Good putty 
lasts a lifetime. 

White lead putty is too hard for setting win- 
dow glass; the glass may be broken, and then 
the putty must be removed, and it is very 
difficult to do this with white lead putty; but 
one-tenth white lead may be put in ordinary 
putty with advantage, as it makes it quicker 



Glazing 73 

to dry. Putty is applied with a putty-knife, 
which has a steel blade about 3^ inches long 
and i^ inches wide at the end; some use a 
blade cut square across, others have the end 
beveled; it is purely a matter of habit; either 
will do the work. 

Plate glass is always cut with a glass-cutter's 
diamond; sheet glass may be cut with a dia- 
mond or with a wheel, which is a Cutting 
hardened steel wheel about an ^^^^^ 
eighth of an inch in diameter, with a sharp 
edge, set in a handle; the wheels are replace- 
able and may be bought separately, if the right 
kind of a holder is obtained. The operator 
has a little jar or wide-mouthed bottle of kero- 
sene before him, in which he dips the wheel 
before each cut; this is essential to the proper 
use of the wheel. It cuts sheet glass perfectly 
well; but the diamond makes a deeper cut, 
and is necessary for plate glass. 

The amateur will find it a help to lay a large 



74 House Painting 

sheet of paper on the table, and with a rule 
make a pencil-mark where the edge of the 
pane of glass will come; then lay the piece of 
glass on it, put a straight-edge nearly over this 
pencil-mark, and with the straight-edge as a 
guide run the wheel over the glass; consider- 
able pressure must be used; a Httle practice 
will soon show how to do it. The professional 
will lay the sheet of glass over the opening in 
the sash, and with the edge of the sash to guide 
his eye will with a free-hand movement run 
the glass-cutter swiftly across, and the glass 
falls apart on exactly the right line. 

Before putting the glass in place the work- 
man spreads putty along the ledge on which it 

is to rest; this is called bedding the 
Bedding . . ^ 

glass, which is then pressed firmly 

into place and fastened there with little tri- 
angular bits of sheet zinc, called glaziers' 
points; these are put in from nine to twelve 
inches apart, and are laid flat on the glass 



Glazing 75 

and driven into the wood of the sash, the 

implement used for driving being a two-inch 

chisel which is held with its flat side on the 

glass and the edge away from the glass; that 

is, with the back of the chisel down, so as not 

to scratch the glass. If the pane is smaller 

than the opening, it is so set that when the 

sash is in its proper position the pane will rest 

on the sash-bar below it; then there will be 

a crack between the pane and the 

\ Points 

sash on one or two sides, and the 
chisel is held vertically over this crack, and 
with its edge a crimp is made in the triangular 
zinc point (which has already been driven), 
so as to prevent the glass from sliding about. 
Zinc will readily bend, while steel will not, and 
this is the reason zinc is used for the purpose. 
These points are of various sizes: No. i are 
used for double-thick glass, No. 2 for the 
lighter glass. Fire-proof wooden sash are 
covered with thin sheet metal, and for use with 



76 House Painting 

such sash steel slugs are made; these are 
triangular, ^ inch long, ^-^ wide at the wide 
end, and ^-^ inch thick; these are also used for 
plate glass. It is of importance to use enough 
points. 

When the glass is thus held in place, the rest 
of the putty is apphed. This may be done 
while the sash is in a horizontal position; but 
the professional sets the sash upon a sort of 
easel, putties the right-hand side and across 
the bottom with one motion of the arm, then 
reverses the sash and putties the other side and 
end. 

Sometimes, with soft-wood sash, bedding 

the glass is omitted, though wrongly so; 

but it is imperative for hard-wood 
Backing 

and metal-lined sash, and for all 

plate and crystal-plate glass. But in case the 

glass has not been bedded in putty, we crowd 

some putty into the crack between the glass 

and the sash on the indoors side; this is called 



Papering 77 

backing the glass. Large panes of plate glass 
are not puttied, but are held in place with 
strips of molding nailed to the sash, and the 
crack between the glass and the molding is 
backed with putty. 

Papering, 

The first thing to be done is to clean the 

walls and ceiling. If there is old paper It 

must be removed; one layer of ^^^^^^^^ 

paper over another makes a thick before 

r 1 1 Papering 

coatmg; the paste of the outer layer 

does not come into contact with the lime of the 

wall, which would have a preservative effect, 

and so forms a breeding-place for germs of 

all sorts. To remove the old paper, first try 

stripping it off dry; often you may remove 

much of it this way. Then wet it with hot 

water, applying it with a wet cloth, a brush, 

or a sponge, as may be most convenient; but 

if it is a varnished or enameled paper it will be 



78 House Painting 

well to put a handful of washing-soda (sal 
soda) in a quart of hot water and put it on 
with a brush or a swab, so as to keep the hands 
out of it; though it is not so very bad for the 
skin if not used too long. It may be necessary 
with a hard enameled paper to make scratches 
in the paper to let the water in; it is some- 
times quite a hard task to get such paper off. 
But in general when the paper is wet you may 
peel it off in large strips, and scrape off the 
remainder with an ordinary steel scraper; 
some recommend scraping with a piece of 
sheet zinc, as less liable to scratch the wall. 
Persistent wetting and scraping will get the 
paper off. Notice whether the paper sticks 
well to the wall; if it does, it will not be neces- 
sary to size the wall; if it comes off easily the 
wall must be sized. New walls do not need it. 
If the walls have been kalsomined or white- 
washed it is equally necessary to get the old 
material off, in the same general way as paper 



Papering 79 

is removed; a scrubbing-brush is useful. If 
the wall is cracked or broken, it is necessary 
to repair it; this is usually done with plaster of 
paris; always try it before using; wet up a 
little with cold water, and see if it sets and 
becomes hard; if not, get some that is fresh. 
It must be mixed a Httle at a time and applied 
within ten minutes after the water is Repairing 
added to it. It may be put on with ^^^^® 
a trowel or, more commonly, with a putty- 
knife. The common method of filling cracks 
is to cut the sides of the crack until it becomes 
V-shaped, then wet the sides of it with water 
so that it will not absorb water from the plaster 
of paris, and then press the latter firmly into 
it. But a more thorough method is to cut the 
crack out so that the channel thus made will be 
wider at its bottom than at the surface of the 
wall; thus it holds the plaster of paris more 
securely. Large holes are first filled to within 
an eighth of an inch of the surface and allowed 



8o House Painting 

to harden, and then filled flush; this is to avoid 
shrinkage. Whiting is powdered chalk; 
many mix this in equal quantity with plaster 
of paris, and wet it with glue-size; this mixture 
does not set quite as quickly as plaster alone. 
Size is made by soaking a pound of glue 
over-night in cold water; in the morning 
pour off the water, and, having the 
glue m a tm or enameled pail or 
pan, pour on it enough boihng water to make 
a gallon. Then stir immediately, and the 
glue will commonly dissolve at once. To this 
may be added two to four ounces of alum, 
previously dissolved in a little hot water. A 
common practice is to also add a quarter of a 
pound of any good bar-soap, which should 
have been cut into shavings to make it dis- 
solve easily. When the size is cold it is ready 
for use and is applied with a brush. It should 
be a thin jelly. If it appears to be too thick 
(glues differ in this) it may be thinned with 



Papering 8 1 

cold water to a consistency suitable for use 
with a brush. As has been said, if the wall 
has been repeatedly papered before, and if 
the paper comes off very easily, it should be 
sized before papering, and the size allowed 
to dry. 

It may be well to say that one of the difficul- 
ties encountered by the amateur is the very 
quick drying of the paper on the wall. If it 
dries slowly, it may, if a mistake is made, be 
taken off and put on properly; that is, if in 
beginning to put on a piece it is found that a 
mistake is made, the end which has been put 
on may be moved to the right place; but if the 
work is going on in dry winter weather and 
the house is hot and dry, the paper must be 
put on exactly right the first thing, for it will 
dry enough so it will stick and tear. But if it 
is done in damp air in summer, when evapora- 
tion is slow, it is possible to be more deHberate, 
and this makes the work easier. 



82 House Painting 

It has been said that size must be made and 
kept in metal vessels; this is because, if it is 

Care of put in a wooden pail, that pail will 
^^^ probably never again be clean; and 
if the glue has begun to decompose in it, it 
will always be a source of trouble, and it may 
be of danger. The same is true of paste, and 
of kalsomine. Avoid wooden pails, and 
never let your brush stand over-night without 
thorough washing. Various unwise and ill- 
considered things at one time and anotherhave 
been said about danger to health from wall- 
paper; also from paint. The only objections 
to wall-paper are that it may be put on one 
layer over another, but this should never be 
done, and probably is not now often done; 
and, second, that it is a somewhat rough and 
porous material which holds dust. This is 
much less true of varnished or enameled paper. 
No doubt there is nothing so entirely sanitary 
as paint or varnish, which are in their nature 



Papering 83 

non-absorbent and impervious, and which 
may be washed without injury. But the talk 
about people being poisoned by ar- 
senic in wall-paper is nonsense. In paper 
the first place, hardly any wall-paper 
colors contain arsenic; and if present it is there 
as a precipitate which is insoluble and non- 
volatile, and couldn't possibly do any harm if 
there were a hundred times as much. Further, 
while a large dose of arsenic is poisonous, a 
very small dose is not so. There are cities in 
this country, such as Butte, Montana, where 
there is so much arsenic in the dust floating in 
the air, from the smelter-smoke, that cats, who 
lick the dust off, poison themselves, and can- 
not live there, while dogs and horses are per- 
fectly healthy; and men, women, and children 
are just as healthy in these cities as they are 
anywhere else. Common salt is one of the 
necessities of life; yet a good-sized dose of it 
will cause vomiting, and no doubt an excessive 



84 House Painting 

amount will cause death; but we do not call it 
a poison. If a room were painted with paris 
green, I do not believe enough arsenic could 
ever get into the air to be detected by the most 
exhaustive chemical analysis. The same may 
be said of the use of white lead; people using 
white lead, who are not of cleanly habits, are 
sometimes poisoned by it, — usually by eating 
their meals without washing their hands or 
beards; but that lead paint on the outside or 
inside of a house should be a source of danger, 
or should be other than entirely sanitary, is 
totally impossible; and, as Sancho Panza said, 
he that thinketh otherwise hath windmills in 
his head. 

The outfit which the amateur paper-hanger 

requires consists, in the first place, of four 

Needful boards about twelve inches wide 

^"*^* and eight or ten feet long. Two of 
these boards should be planed smooth, as they 
are to serve as a table on which to spread the 



Papering 85 

paste on the paper; the others are to make a 
platform on which to work. There should be 
something provided to support these about 
thirty inches from the floor; they may be on 
boxes or tables, — the height is that of an 
ordinary table, — or trestles or "horses " may 
be had. A couple of stout kitchen tables 
make a good support for the boards which are 
to be used as a platform. A carpenter's 
square is useful, and so is a yardstick. It is 
necessary to have a pair of long shears, twelve 
to sixteen inches long; these cost about a 
dollar and a half. The professionals also 
have a rotary-wheel cutter for trimming, but it 
is not necessary. A good paste-brush, about 
seven or eight inches wide, costing from one 
to two dollars, is necessary; and a smoothing- 
brush, which is a long, thin brush, about ten 
or twelve inches long (wide), is very desirable; 
this is for smoothing the paper on the wall; 
the work may be done with a dry, soft towel, 



86 House Painting 

but the brush is very much better; it costs 
seventy-five cents to a dollar. A clothes-brush 
may be used, in emergency. An eight-inch 
cloth-covered roller is also used for this; but a 
good brush is almost indispensable, and is all 
that is really necessary. To smooth dov^n the 
seams a seam-roller is used; this is about an 
inch v^ide, vs^ith a rounded face; a smooth bed- 
caster v^ill ansv^er, but is not so convenient. 
This is to roll down the seams after they are 
partly dry. Flour paste is commonly used, 
and is the best; it is made by putting three 
pints of w^heat flour in two quarts of cold 
water, and rubbing it until it is smooth and 
free from lumps. Then add to it eight quarts 

of boihng water (not merely hot, 
Paste 

but actually boihng), and boil 

slowly with continual stirring for ten minutes. 

It is necessary to be particular about stirring 

it, or it will burn on the bottom. When it is 

cold, sprinkle in with thorough stirring two 



Papering 87 

tablespoonfuls of powdered alum. This 
will be about right, but if it should be too thick 
it may be thinned with a little cold water. 
Use cold. The best dish for making and 
using it is a large oval dishpan. Never put 
paste in a wooden pail, or in anything rusty. 
Wash out the paste-brush every night; do not 
leave it in the paste over-night. Only one 
edge of the paper is to be trimmed. Some of 
the professionals trim the paper first; the man 
sits in a chair with his legs stretched out before 
him, and lets the roll of paper lie on his up- 
turned feet; as he draws it up into his lap he 

trims it with the shears, and with 

Trimming 

practice does this very rapidly. 
But the more common way is to cut the 
paper into suitable lengths first, and then 
spread the paste on one of these pieces, 
applying it to one end of the paper first, and 
when about half the piece is pasted, fold the 
end over toward the center, being particular 



88 House Painting 

to have the sides and edges exactly even. 
Then apply the paste to the other half, and in 
Hke manner fold that end toward the center. 
Then proceed to trim; the advantage of doing 
it this way is that the paste gets distributed to 
the edges perfectly even and clean, and you 
trim two thicknesses of paper at once. 

Wall-paper comes in rolls, eighteen inches 
wide, and a conventional roll is eight yards 

Size of long; but in fact it is always sold in 
^®^^® double rolls of sixteen yards ; but the 
price is usually made on the single-roll basis, 
so if you buy twenty rolls you get ten pieces of 
paper each sixteenyards long, each piece rolled 
up in one (double) roll. To estimate how 
much you need, you are to measure the area 
to be covered; measure the total length of the 
wall, adding up the four or more sides, and 
multiply this by the height; then figure up 
the area of the doors and windows and take 
that out; this gives the total number of square 



Papering 89 

feet of wall to be covered. Each single roll 
has an area of thirty-six square feet; but there 
will be waste in matching the pattern, so it is 
not safe to call a single roll more than thirty 
square feet, or sixty square feet for a double 
roll; and with patterns which are difficult to 
match, even this may be too much to allow 
for a roll. The ceiHng is measured in the 
same way, and it must be remembered that the 
ceiUng paper must in all cases come down on 
the side wall a few inches, at least two inches, 
not only on the ends of the pieces but also on 
the sides; so in putting up the first piece of 
ceiling paper it must be turned down on the 
sfde wall as well as at the ends of the length 
of paper. 

The ceiling is always to be papered first, 
then the walls, and the border is put on last. 
Before beginning at the ceiling papering 
unroll the paper, face up, and cut ^ ^^'^'""^ 
it into suitable lengths, allowing enough 



QO House Painting 

for the ends to turn down, and match the 
pattern, so that it will go on right; you 
cannot match the pattern after you have the 
paste on. Having cut and matched enough 
to cover the ceiling you may begin, applying 
the paste and trimming as has been described. 
In order to have the first piece on straight, it 
will be well to draw a straight horizontal line 
on the side wall about two inches below the 
ceiHng; you may do this by driving two nails 
in the wall the right distance below the ceiling, 
one near each corner of the room, and attach 
a cord from one to the other; rub the cord 
with colored chalk or charcoal, and snap it 
against the wall. Then you may do the same 
thing on the ceiling, making the chalk-mark 
sixteen inches from the wall; as the paper is 
eighteen inches wide, it will cover the space 
between these two lines. One line will do; 
the one on the ceiling is the more convenient. 
When all is ready, take the first piece of 



Papering 91 

paper, which is folded over upon itself as has 
been described; get up on your platform, 
which should be high enough so that your 
head is six inches below the ceiling; begin in 
the right-hand corner of the room (that is, the 
corner where, if you stand facing the wall 
along which the length of the ceiling paper is 
to go, the corner will then be at your right 
hand); unfold the end of the paper which you 
begin with, hold it over your head, and let the 
other end, which is still folded, hang down 
behind you; attach the paper to the ceiling, 
first with your hand, and then smooth it out 
with your smoothing-brush. This first piece 
is the most difficult in the whole job, as you 
have only the chalk-line for your guide, and 
it must come down on the wall a little. When 
you have got half of it on, you will unfold the 
other half and put it up. After that you have 
the edge of the last piece for your guide, and 
have only to look out for matching the pattern. 



92 House Painting 

When the last piece is up, its edge comes down 

on the other side wall. 

After you have papered the ceiling you will 

probably feel that you do not need any further 

advice about paper-hanging. The 
Papering . 

the pieces of paper which you cut for 

the side wall should be a little longer 

than the height they are to cover, say four to 

six inches; you will of course match the paper 

when you cut it up, and if the pattern is large 

you will waste considerable paper, but that 

cannot be helped; often a foot in a length will 

be cut off and thrown away. The top will be 

covered with the border, so it is not important 

to have it even; but often no border is used, 

and then it is quite a particular job to have the 

paper cut so that the pattern matches exactly, 

and you will need the carpenter's square to 

cut the ends exactly true. The bottom will 

hang below the top of the base-board, and 

with the back of the shears you will make a 



Papering 93 

crease in the damp paper at the top of the 

base-board; then cut it off as thus marked. 

It is usual to begin papering the wall by 

starting at the side of a door; this 

gives a vertical Hne, easy to fit, and and 

, . . 1 -n 1 Windows 

makes it certain that you w^ill have 

to cut paper to fit not more than one side of 
that door. 

It is common practice for paper-hangers 
to begin anev^ at the right-hand side of each 
door and w^indovs^, and leave the short pieces 
over the doors and over and under the windov^s 
to be done last; do not ever tolerate this; and 
if you are making a bargain with a paper- 
hanger always mention this point. Otherwise 
you will have mismatched paper at every one 
of these places. It takes more paper and 
more time to do it right, but you should con- 
sider that all you put the paper on for at all 
is to have it look well, and if you have got to 
see a botched job every day for two or three 



94 House Painting 

years, — often wall-paper lasts ten years and 
sometimes fifty, — it pays to do it right in the 
first place. When you come to a window, go 
on and match the paper carefully over and 
under it, and when you get to the other side of 
the window probably you will have to cut a 
long piece in two lengthwise to bring the pat- 
tern right; but then it will be right, and you 
will always have the satisfaction of knowing it, 
and so will other people. And this leads me 
to say that in ordering paper, after you have 
made reasonable allowances for waste, it is 
always well to buy at least one double roll 
extra for just such emergencies as this, which 
you cannot foresee. Besides, you may spoil 
a piece occasionally. Paper doesn't cost 
much ; it is the labor that counts. It is a griev- 
ous thing to have to say, however, that if you 
bargain with a paper-hanger to do the job and 
let him buy the paper for you (after you 
select it), as is a common custom, you must 



Papering - 95 

look out that he does not leave three or four 
double rolls extra on your hands, merely 
because he gets a commission of twenty-five 
to forty per cent on it. Generally you can 
bargain to have all full double rolls taken back 
and have the cash returned. You may be 
told that you will need some extra paper for 
occasional repairs; well, practically you won't. 
It is not often that patching is done; paper 
begins to fade as soon as it is applied, and a 
new piece of the same paper used as a patch 
shows about as much as though it were a 
different paper. 

It is well to know that you can sometimes 
clean wall-paper, especially ceiUngs which 
have become smoked; this is done ^^^^^^^^ 
with a handful of unbaked dough, Wall 
to which the dirt will stick. What 
I always use is the moist, soft part of a loaf 
of fresh bread, just baked; with it a ceiHng 
can be cleaned so as to look and be as good 



96 House Paniting 

as new, and it is not a difficult thing to do. 
Moldings and ornaments can be cleaned the 
same way. 

In putting on the border, which is the last 
part of the paper-hanging, do not begin in a 
corner; start a few inches back from the cor- 
ner, and then you can make a smooth corner 

job. 

Whitewashing. 

Whitewash is made from lime; for this pur- 
pose the lime should be in hard lumps, not 
How to such as has been long exposed to 
,„^./ the air and become air-slaked. 

White- 
wash The U. S. Lighthouse Board recipe 

for making whitewash says that we may slake 

half a bushel of lime in boiling water, keeping 

it covered during the process to keep in the 

steam; but here it may be said that the more 

common practice is to put cold water on the 

lime, not enough to drown it, but slowly 

add as much as the lime will take up; it will 



Whitewashing 97 

generate plenty of heat, and steam will come 
off; keep adding water slowly, and finally the 
lime will crumble and become a loose white 
mass, to which enough water is added to 
make it a paste, and this is to be stirred with a 
stick until it begins to cool; this indicates that 
it has combined with all the water it will take. 
Some lime is much slower about this than 
other, because all limestone, from which lime 
is made, is not of the same chemical composi- 
tion. There is no objection to using hot 
water, which will start it more quickly. It is 
then thinned with water to a thin paste, and 
put through a strainer, as there are often lumps 
and dirt in it. 

Now we go back to the recipe. Add to the 
strained lime paste a peck of salt (about 
fifteen pounds), previously dissolved in hot 
water; boil three pounds of rice to a thin 
paste, strain it, and stir it in while the whole 
is hot; have a pound of good glue dissolved 



98 House Painting 

by soaking it the night before in cold water, 
then pour off the extra water and pour on to 
it three or four quarts of boihng water and stir 
it, and it will dissolve; in this glue solution 
stir half a pound of whiting (which is 
pulverized chalk), and add this glue and 
whiting mixture to the lime and salt. The 
glue may be dissolved without previous 
soaking in a large glue-pot, or in an oat- 
meal cooking-pot, or in a small pot hung 
in a larger pot filled with boihng water; but 
the method first described is best. After all 
these ingredients are stirred in, add five 
gallons of hot water, stir well, and let it stand 
for a few days, covered from dirt. It is to be 
appKed hot. It is estimated that a pint of 
this mixture will cover a square yard of sur- 
face. This is undoubtedly a good whitewash. 
The most common whitewash is made by 
slaking the Hme with water as described, then 
thinning it with more water and straining it. 



Whitewashing 99 

It is probably not desirable to add glue to it 
if it is to be used in cellars, but the rice would 
be less objectionable; in place of Extra 

rice, flour may be used, either ^®°^®° ' 

J ing 

wheat, rye, or buckwheat, but not Material 
corn meal; rice is most nearly white. The 
lime combines with the proteid matter of the 
rice or flour to make a cement, and this makes 
it adhere better. In some places it is the prac- 
tice to thin the whitewash with sweet skim- 
milk; this acts in the same way and is excellent 
for outdoor work, as it stands the weather 
well; the lime unites with the casein of the 
milk to make a cement. This is not suitable 
for cellars, but is all right for dry places. 
Whitewash, as everyone knows, is appHed 
with a wide, flat brush; the operator does 
not rub it on, as the painter does How to 
paint, but lightly brushes over the ^^l^^_ 
wall or ceiling with the brush so as wash 
to use the ends of the bristles, not bearing on 



100 House Painting 

enough to bend over the bristles so that a great 
part of their length will touch the wall. The 
brush is held lightly; the arm is not stiff, but 
bends freely at the elbow; the whole action 
should show flexibiHty and freedom. This 
is equally true of kalsomining, which is only 
a variety of whitewashing. In whitewashing 
a ceiling it is well for the operator to begin on 
the side next the windows, so as to be work- 
ing away from the light. 

The floor should be covered with canvas 
or building-paper, as lime-stains are difficult 
to remove. Before beginning work the wall 
or ceiling to be treated should be thoroughly 
cleaned; old whitewash should be washed off*, 
scrubbing it with a brush if necessary; and 
if it is a place where the good appearance is 
important, as in a room, stains should be 
removed or covered up, as will be described 
under the subject of Kalsomine. Whitewash 
is the most purely white coating known; and 



Whitewashing lOI 

it is sanitary, as the lime has a purifying 
action, kills germs, and does not act as a 
medium for their growth. It is on this 
account a good coating for cellar-walls and 
the like, also for the interior of stables and 
outbuildings in general. It may be colored 
with any pigments which are not attacked 
by lime; a yellow or cream color colors for 
is obtained by adding yellow ocher; Whitewash 
it will mix with any of the iron oxides, as 
Venetian red or Indian red, also with umber 
and sienna; and tints may be obtained with 
mixtures of these, with or without lampblack, 
as described in speaking of oil paints. 
Bright yellow and green cannot be made, 
but various dull colors are available. How- 
ever, whitewash is generally white; and 
although the directions of the U.S. Lighthouse 
Board say to apply it hot, that is intended 
to apply only to the rather complex mixture 
which they recommend; common whitewash 



102 House Painting 

is used cold. It is not unusual to put a little 

carbolic acid in it for use in cellars, stables, 

and the like. 

Whitewash brushes should be washed out 

immediately after using, as the caustic lime is 

not good for them. To determine 
Testing 

how thick whitewash should be, it 

is customary to brush out a little of it on a 

piece of well-sized paper, which can be dried 

quickly; this will show if it covers sufficiently; 

if it is too thick the coating will look coarse 

and sandy. 

Kalsomining. 

Kalsomine, or calcimine, is much Hke white- 
wash; it is a water-paint, having a Hme as a 
Kalsomine: base; but whereas whitewash is a 
How Made j^jxture of fresh, caustic water- 
slaked lime with water, and has enough adhe- 
sive quality to make it stick by itself fairly 
well, kalsomine is made of the carbonate of 



Kalsomining 1 03 

lime, or chalk ground to a line powder and 
known as whiting, Paris white, or Spanish 
white, mixed not with pure water but with 
size, or a thin solution of glue, which is the 
binder. To make it, fifteen or twenty pounds 
of whiting are mixed with water enough to make 
a thick paste; half a pound of good white glue, 
which has previously been dissolved in water 
by the method already described, is added to 
it, and enough hot water is then added to make 
about one-fifth as many gallons as there are 
pounds of whiting; that is, five pounds of whit- 
ing make a gallon of kalsomine. When cool 
it will be a jelly, and is then ready for applica- 
tion. If it is desired to have it tinted, the 
color must be mixed with enough water to 
make a thin fluid and added to the whiting 
before the glue is added; at least, this is the 
best way, though it is often put into the hot 
kalsomine after it is finished, because then the 
color may be judged by painting out a little 



104 House Painting 

on a piece of paper and drying it. The color 

is darker when wet, and can only be judged 

when dry. At the same time the operator can 

tell if enough glue has been put in so that the 

kalsomine will not rub off; different kinds of 

glue differ in strength. If a pure white is 

desired, it is not uncommon to add a little 

ultramarine, to correct the slightly yellowish 

tint which would otherwise be present. 

Kalsomine is applied with a wide brush, 

Hke whitewash; and if the wall is stained, it 

^ must be treated in some way to 

Prepara- ^ 

tion of remove or cover up the stain; this 
is like the preparation for white- 
washing. First remove all old kalsomine, 
whitewash, or paper; then wash the wall well 
with soda solution, then with clean warm 
water; if any stains remain they may be 
covered with a coat of shellac varnish; many 
advise painting the whole surface with 
an oil paint, the only objection to which is 



Kalsomtning 105 

its cost and the time required. I have 
found an efficient covering for spots to be 
a co;^t of aluminum paint, v^hich is nearly 
white, absolutely opaque, dries quickly, and 
adheres to anything, but is rather costly except 
for small spots. If it is used, it should be the 
sort v^hich has a pungent smell of bananas; 
aluminum paint is sometimes made vs^ith a 
rosin size, which is not so good. 

After "killing" the stains, it is usual to 
apply a coat of size to the wall, as if for paper- 
ing; this keeps the kalsomine from striking 
in and being spotty. A soap and alum size 
is also recommended; enough soap is dis- 
solved in hot water to be, when cold, a jelly, 
and this is rubbed well into the wall with a 
stiff brush; after a day's drying a solution of 
alum, a pound to a gallon of water, is applied 
in liberal quantity; this makes an insoluble 
alum soap; and this should be allowed a day 
to dry. 



Io6 House Painting 

Since the lime in kalsomine is in the form 

of carbonate, and not caustic, it is possible to 

Fresco; use a wide range of pigments to 
Distemper ^|^^^. ^^ ^^j^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^j^^ ^^jj 

or ceiling has been kalsomined, it is possible 
to decorate it with figures or borders, using, as 
paint, kalsomine of suitable colors; this is 
called frescoing. The English name for this 
kind of paint is distemper; and these fresco or 
distemper paints are often sold in bottles or 
jars ready for use, containing some preserva- 
tive to prevent decomposition of the glue or 
other binding materials. 

Kalsomine is sold, ready mixed, in pack- 
ages; these are emptied into hot water, stirred 
until the glue is dissolved, then allowed to 
cool before using. 

Recently kalsomine has been put on the 
market which dissolves in cold water and is 
ready to use at once; this is very convenient 
and satisfactory. A much greater variety of 



Kahomining loj 

color effects can be had with kalsomine than 
with whitewash, and it has a softer and 
smoother appearance, free from the somewhat 
rough and sandy look of whitewash, especially 
when put on a little too thick; but it has not 
the antiseptic quahties of the latter. White- 
wash costs almost nothing; it is sanitary, 
easily applied, may be so made as to resist the 
weather tolerably well, and is and always will 
be the paint for themilHon. Kalsomine is used 
almost solely for its artistic effect, in which it 
is equaled only (if at all) by the most costly 
enamel painting. On plain work it is easily 
applied, but it also lends itself to display the 
highest skill of the artist. Some of the most 
celebrated pictures in the world are fresco 
paintings. 



Io8 House Paint i 



ng 



Cold- Water Paints. 

These are related both to whitewash and to 

kalsomine; to the former because they contain 

quicklime, and to the latter because 
Casein 

they contain a glue-Hke cementing 

material. The cement is casein which is 
obtained from milk. Milk consists of water, 
sugar, casein, and fat (butter), the last three in 
about equal proportions. When the butter 
is removed the casein may be precipitated, 
purified, and dried, and it is on the market as 
a white powder, soluble in a solution of any 
alkali in water. In the early days of cold- 
water paints borax was used; but this was a 
failure, because the compound formed by it 
and casein was not altogether insoluble when 
dry. Now the casein is mixed with lime; 
when water is added to this mixture the casein 
first dissolves in the lime-water, then it com- 



Cold- Water Paints log 

bines chemically with more lime, and this lime 
and casein compound, when dry, is insoluble 
and is a cement of considerable strength. As 
the paint is put up in dry form, it is a powder 
containing, like kalsomine, whiting and color- 
ing matter, and the proper amount of casein 
and powdered quicklime, the latter two tak- 
ing the place of the glue in kalsomine. 

Casein and lime cement has long been 
known; it has been used as a cement for 
crockery and the like. The direc- Casein 
tions formerly given (before the ^®"^®°* 
modern methods for making casein were 
invented) were to knead and wash cheese with 
water until all the fat was removed and the 
residue was white and crumbly; mix this with 
cream of lime (lime slaked and mixed with 
enough water to be of the consistence of cream) 
enough to make a paste; apply at once. This 
makes a very strong and water-proof cement. 
The casein now made is prepared in a very 



no House Painti 



"<^ 



different way, and is chemically a somewhat 
different substance; but it makes a cement 
with lime, and resists water well. The paint 
thus made is practically incombustible; casein 
may be destroyed by fire, but it is, when dry, 
a substance much like glue, and can hardly 
be regarded as combustible; and the Hme and 
pigment are not at all so. It offers a sensible 
resistance to fire. It is not washed off by 
rain, and is in that sense weather-proof; but it 
is of an open and porous structure, and does 

not prevent moisture from reaching 
Casein the surface to which it is applied. 

As it contains free lime, like white- 
wash, it is impracticable to get such a variety 
of colors, or such brilliant or delicate ones, as 
with kalsomine; moreover, it is of a coarse 
texture, as compared with the latter, and is 
not as suitable for interior work. It is liable 
to mold and to decomposition if used in very 
damp places, as in cellars and the like. 



Cold- Water Paints III 

Some three and a half centuries ago, Vasari, 
a celebrated writer and fresco painter, in his 
"Lives of the Painters" told the story of a 
painter named Paolo UceUi, who was em- 
ployed to decorate with mural paintings the 
walls and ceilings of some public rooms in a 
monastery. In addition to certain small daily 
wages he was provided with board and lodg- 
ing; but the thrifty monks, though they them- 
selves had an ample diet, kept him for the 
most part on soup and bread and cheese. He 
was practically a prisoner; but one day he ran 
away, and for a long time eluded the pursuit 
of the monks, who, being fat and well-fed, 
were easily out-run by the thin and long-legged 
artist. But they hit on the device of sending 
in pursuit some of the young men who had 
recently come to the monastery to prepare for 
admission, and they at length captured him 
and brought kim back. When reproached 
with his breach of contract heexplained that as 



112 House Painting 

he was working with lime-washes and paints 
and living on cheese, he feared and indeed 
believed that he had symptoms that he was 
turning into cement. So to get the pictures 
done they had to give him a more varied 
supply of food. 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Active and inactive pigments 29 

Amount painted per day 30 

Arsenic 83 

Backing of glass 77 

Barytes 10 

Bedding glass 74? 76 

Benzine 4, 6 

Blanc fixe 10 

Black pigments 12 

Blistering 56 

Blue pigments 11 

Boiled oil i> 55? 7° 

Border, wall paper 89, 92, 96 

Breaking paint 7 

Bridle 13 

Brushes 12, 85 

care of 16, 87 

for waxing floors 65 

paste 85 

renovating 18 

smoothing 85 

wire 16 

113 



1 14 Index 



PAGB 

Brush-safe 16 

Burning-off 57 

Calcimine 102 

Camel's hair brushes 15 

Canvas roofs 32 

Care of brushes 16, 87 

Carriage painting 53 

Casein cement 109 

paints 108 

Caustic soda 68 

Ceilings, papering 89 

China clay 11 

Cleaning metal 34 

wall paper 95 

walls 77 

Cold water paint 108 

Color mixtures 24 

Concentrated lye 68 

Cornice 30 

Cost of paint 25 

Cotton oil, in putty 71 

Cracks in varnish 52, 54 

walls 79 

Creosote 31 

Crystal plate glass 70 

Cylinder glass 68 

Cypress 22 

Damar varnish 41 

Diamond, to cut glass 73 



Index 115 

PAGE 

Distemper 106 

Doors and windows, in papering 93 

frames t,t, 

Drier i 

Drying of paint 39 

varnish 46 

Dusting brushes 15 

Dyeing wood 59 

Elastic undercoat cracks 52, 54 

Enamel paint 3^^ 3^ 

Exterior varnisliLng 49 

Fillers 47,51 

Filling cracks in walls 79 

Fire-proof paint 32 

Flatting 4,38,56 

Floor finishing 61 

paint 61 

hardener 61 

varnish 63 

wax 65 

Floors, cleaning 67, 68 

filling 63 

Flour paste 86 

French zinc 9 

Fresco painting 106 

Gallon 6 

Galvanized iron 31 

Glass, cutting 73 



Il6 Index 

PAGE 

Glass, crystal plate 70 

double thick 69 

plate 70, 77 

qualities of 69 

sheet or cylinder 68 

single thick 69 

sizes 69 

window 68 

Glazier's points 68 

Glazing 68 

Gloss paint 36 

Glue, in whitewash 97 

to dissolve 98 

Grain of wood 46 

Graphite 35 

Insects, avoided by varnishing . . . ; 66 

Interior finish, novel 59 

painting 36 

Japan i 

Kalsomine 102 

Knots 19 

Lead and zinc mixtures 23 

sulphate 8 

white 5,7 

Lime, to slake 96 

Linoxyn 2 

Liquid filler 51 

Lithopone 10 



Index 



iij 



PAGE 



Matching paper c,2 

Milk in whitewash gg 

Mirror plate yo 

Mixed paint ^ 27 

Novel interior finish en 

Ocher j j 

Oil, boiled i, 55, 70 

darkens wood 48, 63 

drying of 2 

^^^ I, 6, 55, 70 

weight of 6 

Oleo-resinous varnish 42 

Oxalic acid 6y 

Painter's torch ^8 

Paint, for floors 61 

japan j 

mixed 6 j 

remover 19, 58, 67 

sanitary qualities of 82 

Painting on plaster ^g 

Paper-hangers outfit 84 

Papering yy 

ceilings 89 

side-walls 02 

Paper, to trim 87 

Paste 86 

brush 85 

filler 47 

white lead 6 



Il8 Index 



PAGE 



Peeling, of paint 57 

Piazza floors t^t^ 

Pine, southern 20, 57 

Plaster of paris 79 

Plate glass 70, 77 

Points, glazier's 74 

Polishing floors 65 

Putty 71 

knife 73 

white lead 37> 72 

Puttying 23, 37 

Priming coat 20, 37, 55, 70 

Raw oil I, 6, 55, 70 

Red lead 35 

pigments 11,12 

Redwood 21 

Removing stains 67, 104 

paint and varnish 58, 67, 68 

wall paper 77 

Repainting 57 

Rice in whitewash 97 

Roller, seam 86 

Rolls of wall paper 88 

Rubbing varnish 48 

Sal soda 67, 78 

Salt, in whitewash 97 

Sash tools 14 

Seam roller 86 

Sheet glass 68 



Index 119 

PAGE 

Shellac, as interior varnish 50 

for floors 64 

how applied 50 

removed 67 

varnish 40 

white 40 

Side wall, to paper 92 

Size, how made 80, 105 

Sizing 40, 78, 81, 105 

Slaking lime 96 

Slugs 76 

Smoothing brush 85 

Southern pine 20, 57 

Spar varnish 49 

Spirit varnish 4° 

Sponge test for varnish 45 

Spotting 56 

Spreading capacity of paint 29 

Stain 47 

Staining window sash 47 

Stains, how removed 67, 104 

Stopping knots i9> 37 

Structural metal, painting 34 

Sublimed lead 8 

Terra alba 11 

Testing whitewash 102 

Test for varnish 45 

Thick or thin coats 27 

Tin roofs « . . . 3^ 



120 Index 

PAGE 

Trim 30 

Trimming wall paper 87 

Turpentine 3, 6, 7, 44 

Varnish, how made 40, 43 

oleo-resinous 42 

paints 36, 38 

remover 19, 58, 67 

shellac 40 

spar 49 

spirit 40 

test for 45 

to rub 48 

various qualities 44 

Wall paper, how measured ^2> 

paste 86 

poisoning by 83 

sanitary qualities of 77, 82 

to clean 95 

remove 77 

Wall shingles 31 

Washing soda 67, 78 

Waste in wall paper 94 

Wax for floors 65 

Weight of lead paint 6 

oil 6 

turpentine 6 

zinc paint 9 

Wheel to cut glass 73 



Index 121 

PAGE 

White lead 5 

poisoning 84 

putty 37, 72 

White shellac 40 

Whitewash, how made 96, 98 

Whitewashing 96, 99 

White zinc 9 

Whiting II, 71, 103 

Window glass 68 

Wire brushes 16 

brushing 57 

Wood filler 47> 51 

open or close grained 46 

Yellow pigments 11 

Zinc and lead mixtures 23 

Zinc-lead 9 

Zinc white 9 



JUL 23 1906 



